The Ultimate Predator Encyclopedia And Guide
by Choco Scorpion Bat
Summary: The Ultimate Predator Encyclopedia And Guide For The Hardore Fan. Describes everything you ever wanted to know, from anatomy, hunting techniques, and social caste system. Includes info on religious beliefs, technology and history. The most thorough guide to Predator you'll ever find on . Made specially for the hardcore Predator fans! UPDATE: Separated into chapters!
1. The Dictionary

THE ULTIMATE PREDATOR ENCYCLOPEDIA AND GUIDE FOR THE HARDCORE FAN

BY DYLAN BAILEY

INTRODUCTION AND HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

I have been a huge fan of the Predators and Alien series ever since I first saw the original Alien. I swear I almost peed my pants watching that movie! Ridley Scott did such a fantastic job using the puppets and mini's that I almost thought it was really happening. But, thankfully, it wasn't. Then came James Cameron and the hit sequel, Aliens. Filled with action, blood, horror, and unforgettable characters, not to mention the now famous creature we so affectionately dubbed "The Alien", it almost surpassed Alien.

Next came Predator on my hardcore movies list. Arnold Schwarzenegger killed it, bagged it, and cooked it playing Dutch! First Terminator, and now Predator. What more can I say? He made it rock! Then Predator 2, and next AVP and AVP-R. Finally came Predators, the gory, violent, and absurdly awesome recent addition to the franchise. Introducing the new Super Predator, the insanely buff and huge blood rivals of the Predator. And people said the AVP movie sucked. Boy were they wrong! Enough with my ranting, time to learn to use this guide!

This guide informs you of the Predator's culture, language, technology, social heirarchy, religions, etc. If you decided you would read this book, then I salute you, those who are truly fans! Included is information on biology, the honor code, ranking, and other general Predator stuff, none of that supposedly "true" crap thought up by idiots who haven't even seen the movies or read the comics, stupid bunch of...ANYWAY, just read the guide and you will get an authentic Predator mask! Wait, who said anything about masks? I did? Well, forget it! I don't have one! But you will get a good load of interesting facts, though!

Happy reading!

Dylan

THE ULTIMATE PREDATOR ENCYCLOPEDIA AND GUIDE FOR THE HARDCORE FAN

To Uncle William, who helped me realize that nothing

is more scarier than an angry, totally ticked off Predator

who you stole from is chasing you.

You rock man.

Always have, always will.

CHAPTER ONE

LANGUAGE AND CRAP LIKE THAT

Language is the totality of sounds and symbols used to communicate thoughts, facts, and feelings. Linguistics, the science of language, recognizes the development of some 5000 different human languages over the course of human history, two or three thousand of which are still spoken today. According to the Old Testament book of Genesis, all people originally spoke the same language. When the people of Babel attempted to construct a tower that would ascend all the way to heaven, God prevented them from completing it by making the workers' language incomprehensible to one another and scattering the tower builders around the world.

The Yautja have a complex verbal and written language. The following are Yautja words and their English translation.

~~~Beings, gods and family ties~~~

Yaut'ja / Yautja : Predator Species Name

Kainde Amedha : Hard Meat (Xenomorphs)

Pyode Amedha : Soft Meat (Humanoids)

Ek'so-Oota : Combat Exosuit

Ooman : Human

Jehdin : (a.) One; Solitary; Individual. (b.) An un-blooded warrior.

Mei-hswei : Brother

Mei-jadhi : Sister

Paya : The Yaut'ja Warrior God

Cetanu : The Yaut'ja God of Death (The Dark Warrior)

D'yeka : The Ultimate Prey (Mythological)

Hult'ah : Watcher

Vor'mekta : Stalker

Kv'var-de : Hunter

Sain'ja : Warrior

P'kya'uha : Sniper

Nrak'ytara : Guardian

N'yaka-de : Master

Mar'cte : Killer

Kujhade : Destroyer

U'darahje : Abomination

Kha'bj-te : Maniac/Reckless

Dteinou : Messenger

~~~Health, sickness and death~~~

Thei-de : Death, Dead, Die

U'sl-kwe : Final Rest

Thwei : Blood

Setg'in : Plague

Dhi'ki-de : Comma, Waking Death

Z'skuy-de : Convultions; Spasm

~~~Bones, belongings and body parts~~~

Gkinmara : Sensor; Detector

Gkinmaru : Camera

D'lex : A super-strong, metallic/crystaline material.

Tjau'ke : A type of rock made of compressed dust.

Kiloun : Wood

Tyioe-ti : Escape Pod

Kehrite : Training Area

Te'dqi : Slime; Spittle

H'dui'se : Smell; Scent; Odor; Musk

Bhu'ja : Ghost; Spector

Syra'yte : Head

Th'syra : Skull

Dekna : Eye; Eyes; Eyeball

~~~Tech, armor and killing utensils~~~

Awu'asa' : Armor

Dah'kte : WristBlades

Al'Nagara : Sword, Long

Dah'Nagara : Sword, Short

Ki'cti-pa : Spear; Combistick; Lance

Bhrak-chei : Speargun; Harpoon

Taun'dcha : Pistol; Firearm; Sidearm; Gun

Sivk'va-tai : Plasmacaster

Chakt-ra : Hunter's Disc

T'gou U'linja : Net Gun

Kv'Vurj-de : Energy Flechette

Akrei-non : Bombs; Explosives

~~~Places, times and elements~~~

Ui'stbi : Geography

R'ka : Fire

Ju'dha : Water

Vayuh'ta : Air

Kjuhte : Void

N'-ithya : Earth; Ground; Dirt; Land

Luar-ke : Moon

Lar'ja : Dark

Gaun : Night

Than-guan : Midnight

Halkrath : Shadow

Ikthya-de : Umbra

Dto : Forest; Jungle; Woodland

Agaj'ya : Realm

~~~Actions, reactions and dreams~~~

Dtai'kai'-dte : Battle; Fight

Kv'var : Hunt

Chiva : Trial

Gry'sui-bpe : Stampede

N'ritja : Dance

Chi'ytei : Embrace; Hug

Ka'Torag-na : Lurking

Mesh'in'ga : The Battle Dream-time

Dha-viath : Disaster

Ikthala : Cataclysm

~~~The Yautja condition~~~

Ch'hkt-a : Anxous; Excited

H'ulij-bpe : Crazy

Yeyin : Brave

H'dlak : Fear

H'chak : Mercy

Thar'n-dha : Strength

Yin'tekai : Honor

Dhi'rauta : Cunning

Nracha-dte : Relentless

Gahn'tha-cte : Ruthless

~~~Word of mouth~~~

Gkaun-yte : Greetings; Hello

N'dhi-ja : Farewell; Good bye

N'jauka : Welcome

Ki'sei : I agree; I understand

Sei-i : Yes; Afirmative

H'ko (M-di) : No; Negative

Gkei'moun : All too easy

Nain desintje-de : True Victory

Nan-de than-gaun : The kiss of midnight

Ki'cte : Enough!

Payas leitjin-de Hma'mi'de. : Remember the gods' practice.

Thin-de le'hsaun'aloun'myin-de s/ bpi-degka-de hou-depaya. : Learn the gift of all sightsor finish the dance of the fallen gods.

Dtai'kai'-dte sa-de nau'gkon dtain'aun bpi-de. : The fight that begun

would not end until the end.

Jkiu : Report location!

Na'tauk : Salute

Thar'n-da s/ yin'tekai : Strength and honor

Pauk : A term equal to the "F" bomb;

...

Further information on the language system of the Yautja is below, with terms for their wildlife, combat, and more. It is important to realize, if you have not already, that their system is highly complex, and can be confusing. Certain words have "double meanings", meaning that they mean more than one thing. Several examples of this are shown in the list below.

Technology words Names

Awu'asa - full body ensemble

Gkinmara - video camera

Ki'cti-pa - double-bladed wrist knife/blades

Tyioe-ti - escape pod

Bakuub - "Straight Spear"

Cetanu - God of Death

Dachande - "Different Knife"

Dahdtoudi - "Little Knife" (feminine)

Guan-thwei - Nightblood

Kainde amedha - Hard Meat (Aliens)

Lou-dte Kalei - "Child Maker" (slang for female)

Ooman - Human

Yeyinde - "Brave One"

Paya - a god, conquering warrior

Pyode amedha - Soft Meat

Expressions Combat Related Words

C'jit! - "D**n!"

Dtai'k-dte sa-de nav'g-kon dtain'aun bpide - "The fight begun would not end until the end."

Dhi'ki-de - final rest, sleep near death, death

Hma'mi'de - unknown translation

Ki'cte! - "Enough!"

M-di H'chak/M-di H'dlak - "No mercy/No Fear"

Pauk! - expletive

Payas Leitjin-de - "Remember God's Practice"

Thin-de le'hasuan 'aloun'myin-del bpi-de gka-de hasou-de paya - "Learn the gifts of all sights, or finish in the dance of the fallen gods."

U'sl-kwe - final rest

Dtai'k-dte - fight

Hiju - fighting position, the proper position to disembowel another

Jehdin/Jehdin - hand-to-hand combat; allows Yautja to show off their skills, first fall determining the winner; no weapons are used; both combatants would probably still be alive after the match.

Kainde amedha chiva - the Hard Meat Trial

Ka'rik'na - the summoning (of other Yautja)

Kehrite - battle arena/training hall/dojo

Kv'var - excercises

Mesh'in'ga - the battle dreamtime

Nain-de - type of hunt

Nain-desintje-da - The Pure Win

Nain-desintje-de - The Pure Win (alternate spelling)

Nan De-Than Gaun - "Kiss of Midnight"

Tarei hsan - unworthy opponent

Zazin - totally centered, within one's self

Miscellaneous Words

Amedha - meat (Kiande amedha / Pyode amedha)

Bpi-de - end, finish

C'ntlip - type of drink, effects like that of alcohol

Ch'hkt-a - hyper active

Chiva - trial (see Kiande amedha chiva)

Dai-shui - Yautja musk

Dto - a type of tree

Gkei'moun - easy or simple

Gry'sui-bpe - stampede

Guan - night

H'chak - mercy

H'dlak - fear

Hulij-Bpe - crazy

Hult'ah - rear guard or look out, sentry, observer

Kantra - prayer

Kiande - hard (see kiande amedha)

Kwei - tricky or sly

L'ulij-bpe - Crazy, alternate spelling

Mei'hswei - brother

Mi - oil

Mo - no

Nan-ku - alive

Naxa - type of fruit

N'dui'se - Yautja's musk

Nihkou'te - tooth or tusk

Nok - unit of measure (equivalent to 13 inches)

Pyode - soft

S'yuit-de - low and demeaning description of something

Setg'-in - deadly and quick

Te'dqi - xenomorph secretion

Thei-de - death/dead/die

Thwei - blood

Tjau'ke - hard packed dirt or type of rock

Ui'stbi - geography

Zabin - type of insect

Z'skvy-de - birth of xenomorph from host, eruptive phase

Other

Dark Warrior - Death, the persona

Path - individual yautja's course of life

The Path - course for all yautja as a whole

Burner - gun, bullets, or laser (not including shoulder-based plasma cannon)

"You have to understand the culture of this area. It's the only way you can appreciate the thrill of the hunt. This isn't about sport, it's about trophy-taking. That's why men hunt - to see who bags the biggest prize. And the biggest prize of all is a killer, see? When you kill a killer, his kills belong to you. Numbers. That's what makes the world go round, big numbers."

(Taken from Predator: Race War #0)

Body Language Vocal Sounds

head cocked to one side - curiosity or regard

lower mandibles spread - aggression

head and eyes lowered - submission

mandibles flared - anger

back arched and mandibles flared - rage

push with one hand at another's shoulder - Challenge

mandibles click together - regard

placing one hand on another's shoulder, and shaking - greeting

growl - warning, amusement, or laughter

hiss - anger

roar - fury

bark - anger, outrage, command

chatter - eagerness, regard

click - surprise, anticipation, eagerness

rumble - warning, curiosity, pleasure

The Predator (or Yautja) homeworld is rich in life, with much game to hunt. A partial list is contained below.

Animals

Chi'imps - from earth; a warrior once heard a human name this species; highly prized because while this species is not very ferocious in battle, it is one of the more intelligent non-sentient beings known

Ghequo - a viscious animal with a set a jaws able to gnas through dlex; 4 meter long mammal-like carnivore tht evolved where the average size of most of the wildlife is between 5-10 meters (it is a mere rodent on this world)

Kuty'y'ae - six-legged reptilian from the planet Kut'y'ae; fierce in battle, not very bright.

Pifc-nah' - can be found on the snow world of Ywa; not very intelligent, but deadly nonetheless; single horn atop the head, used mainly for sparring with other males of the same species

Rjet - type of animal

Rxio-asul - the bright coloring on this crustacean's back is not of artificial means; life on their planet has odd pigmentation when compared to most life in the rest of the galaxy; a pesky foe that chews your feet

Tarei'hasan - small insect


	2. The Timeline

CHAPTER 2

HISTORY AND TIMELINE

PREHISTOY TO 1959

It has been realized that Predators have been to Earth much more often than is revealed in the Predator and AVP films. Take the timeline below. You will be surprised.

TIMELINE: PREHISTORY TO 1959

2997 BC (AvP: Movie)

Yautja arrive and teach humans to build a pyramid. (Bouvet Island, Antarctica)

2897 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans - which they continue every one hundred years on this date.

2797 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

2697 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

2597 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

2497 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

2397 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

2297 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

2197 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

2097 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1997 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1897 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1797 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1697 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1597 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1497 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1397 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1297 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1197 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1097 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

997 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

897 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

797 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

697 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

597 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

497 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

397 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

297 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

197 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

97 BC (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

4 AD (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

104 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

204 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

304 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

404 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

504 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

604 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

704 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

804 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

904 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1004 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1104 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

12th Century (Aliens vs. Predator: Annual #1 - "Old Secrets")

Saint George came to Bradilovo, Bulgaria. He sought to convert it to Christianity, as he had done with so many other villages throughout Eastern Europe. He wasn't aware that in the nearby forest lived a dragon that had been terrorizing the region for generations. The villagers fed the dragon sheep to satiate its thirst for blood. When it remained unsatisfied, they sacrificed villagers.

Still, it was not appeased. The dragon demanded the king's only daughter. Otherwise, it would unleash its wrath upon the entire countryside.

As Saint George was told this tale, he witnessed a ball of fire erupting from the sky. The dragon revealed itself from its shroud of flames, came to take the girl as a sacrifice. Instead, the beast found Saint George. The battle raged, until Saint George drove his lance deep into the beast's chest. The dragon (Yautja) was defeated, the village saved. On the site of this victory the church was executed and given the name of the village's protector.

Since the church's inception, a brotherhood emerged. It has strived to keep hidden the Yautja spaceship and the Kiande Amedha eggs. It has also tried to keep the secret of the existence of these aliens from mankind.

1204 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1304 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

Circa 1358 (Aliens vs. Predator: Eternal #1)

Thirty-eight-year-old Li Yat, playing a sage, peddles elixirs and functions to dimwitted mountain villagers in Tokyo. This cure, however (all of snake blood, ginseng and urine) fermented into a toxic brew. Seventeen died. The rest smashed his chest like porcelain, drove him out to a slow death, breathing his own blood as night and cold closed in.

Li Yat is an atheist. He believes in no gods. Yet he prays for deliverance now - never hurts to keep your options open. Suddenly, a Yautja ship crashes at the floor of the mountain he was climbing. In the village, they cower in their beds, fearful of this star of ill-omen. To Li, it's an opportunity, for he believes that Predators hold the key to eternal life.

1404 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1504 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1604 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1704 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

1718 (Decade of Dark Horse #1)

A Yautja hunted a band of pirates, taking a gun made in 1715, which has the inscription "Roanoke".

1804 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

May, 1863 (Predator: Hell Come A' Walkin')

Clay County, Missouri.

Jesse (15 years old) was up before dawn, ate breakfast, and began his chores. The Yankees ride up to him and demand he tell them where his brother, Frank, is. Frank and "known Confederate guerrillas" set fire to a barn belonging to a farmer loyal to the Union. Jesse refuses to cooperate, and they beat him.

The Yankees leave him for dead and proceed to Jesse's home, demanding of Jesse's father the same question. The response is the same, so they hang a noose around Jesse's father's head and let him hang. They occasionally let him down to ask him again - but the response doesn't change. So, the Yankees leave him strung up and ride off.

It's been a half hour since the left when Jesse returns home. His younger siblings, Sarah and John, drag him into the back. There, he sees his mother and his sister, Susie, trying to hold aloft his father. it was that day Jesse decided to join the Rebels, to make the Yankees pay.

September, 1863 (Predator: Hell Come A' Walkin')

Dutch Jesse Sparticus Standing Bear

The Ozark Mountains. Somewhere near the Missouri-Armansis border.

Zeke, Hiram, and Polk (Rebels) are waiting for the rest of their group, but the rain is holding them up and so they are late. Polk leaves for a bathroom break when he hears fighting come from the base. Racing back, he finds everyone dead and a Yautja standing behind him.

Jesse, Standing Bear, and Nebediah, meanwhile, attempt to find Polk's campsite. Nebediah, a racist, wonders why Standing Bear fights for the Confederacy when they stumble on Polk's campsite, and the dead bodies. They split up and scout the area. All three men know the Ozarks inside and out. Jesse is the one who finds the corpses hanging from a treetop, headless.

Elsewhere Union captain Riggs and his command (the 2nd brigade, 3rd division) are on the march. The trans-Mississippi theater puts them in danger from both civilian guerrillas and Confederate soldiers. The brigade is slowed down lugging their cannon in the mud. Riggs, unaware of the problem, asks what the delay is. Lieutenant Hendricks, saluting, informs him - but before he finishes, Riggs is shot down. The rest of the brigade take cover. Johnson insists he should get the flag, and is shot down as well.

A short distance away, Nebediah and Jesse, the shooters, watch the Yankees take cover.

Two hours later, Hendricks blames himself for Riggs' death. Dutch and Hengle try to convince him otherwise. Hendricks leaves cover to get the captain's body - allowing Nebediah to shot him in the side of his head. Hendricks survives, losing only his ear. He admits that his father was right about him - he was a fool to join the army.

Sparticus speaks of his past, and what brought him to the army. Sparticus then asks about Dutch's family.

Neb wonders about Hendrik's cannon, and if Shelby could use it. Copper, he continues, could have used a few cannons at Honey Springs. Blunt and his army, though outnumbered 2-1 by the Choctaws, still won. Standing Bear claims the black soldiers were full of devils that day. Standing bear has heard many stories that the black man brought devils to this land from the one he was stolen from. Perhaps that is what the Yautja was, he guessed. Or perhaps it was the cannibal spirit.

Though Jesse was apt not to believe that myth, but Neb actually defends the "heathen redskin." There might be truth in what he says, and as proof relates the myth of "the Traveler".

Jesse leaves Neb and Standing Bear to swap ghost stories to take another look at the cannon, and if it could be freed. He wants to be the one to bring the cannon, to get some esteem from his comrades. Then he sees the Yautja materialize in front of the cannon. He races off to tell the others.

Meanwhile, Dutch wants to build a fire, to ease Hendricks' shivers - but they can't risk the Rebels finding them. Yet the Rebels do find them, but under a truce flag. Jesse wants to pair up with the Yankees to fight the Yautja, but has a had time convincing them - until Standing Bear is shot down. All the men open fire, but the Yautja only vanishes again.

Later, Sparticus wakes Jesse at 12:10 am - it is Jesse's birthday. Sparticus offers Jesse some coffee. Neb orders Sparticus to get him some coffee, which he refuses to do. Neb grabs his shotgun, not wanting any backtalk from Sparticus - but Jesse shoots of Nebs hat - Neb has been trying Jesse's patience since Prairie Grove. When Sparticus attempts to thank Jesse, Jesse reminds him he'd as soon blow off his head too. Hendricks just wants everyone to forget their differences and concentrate on killing the Yautja.

They get the cannon free and press on. They come across Yautja footprint, and wonder if it's watching them. They all split up, and try and lure the Yautja into the clearing. Sparticus instead runs into Neb, who holds Sparticus at gunpoint. At the last second, Sparticus ducks as Neb fires - and kills the bear standing behind Sparticus. He saved Sparticus' life. Neb laughs, but is quickly beheaded by the Yautja. Fortunately, Jesse provides distraction enough for both him and Sparticus to clear away and lure the Yautja toward the cannon.

Yet the Yautja spots the trap and keeps back. Hendricks runs out and challenges the Yautjaa. he gets the Yautja in the open, but is himself in the line of fire. He orders Dutch to fire regardless. When the smoke clears, the Yautja is still standing. Dutch races out to shoot it, wounding the Yautja in the shoulder. Then Jesse impales the Yautja from behind with the US flag. It removes its mask, and Jesse shoots it in the head.

Once the dead are buried, Rebels show up. Frank rides point. They plan to kill Sparticus and Dutch, but Jesse threatens to kill Frank himself if he doesn't let them go. He owes them his life, and so they are given safe passage until sundown.

Riding off, Dutch remarks that the saddest thing he's sen in this war is Jesse - to be so young and filled with such anger. Sparticus understands, knowing firsthand how easy it is to lose oneself to rage. Yet he won over that by choosing to build instead of destroy. He'll fight to free himself and his people. he doesn't believe Jesse will ever be free of the demons that possess him.

Indeed, Jesse realizes what he saw in the Yautja's eyes was recognition - an acknowledgment that passes between predators. this revelation makes his skin crawl.

1881 (Predator: Nemesis)

A Yautja hunts in Bengal, India. They are linked to the Indian legend of "Rakshasa". Edward Soames is the only survivor.

August, 1896 (Predator: Nemesis)

London, England. It is a time of secrets and evil: the time of Jack the Ripper, and his reign of terror on Victorian England.

When the exclusive and powerful Diogenes Club summons Captain Edward Soames of the British army, he has no idea why. The esteemed Captain soon wishes the Queen's men had left him alone when he is sent to seek out and destroy the killer perpetrating peculiar and grisly murders in London, whom the periodicals are calling "Spring-heeled Jack." It will take all of the captain's cunning and skill to find and defeat his quarry.

As Mycroft Holmes tells Captain Soames, "London is the very heart of the Empire. An empire such as the world has never seen before, encompassing an area one quarter the size of the globe. An event - any event - affecting this city has repercussions throughout that empire. It is the duty of this committee to ensure that nothing - nothing - be permitted to threaten the stability of either this city or the Empire it controls."

Seeing this as a chance to atone for the events in 1881, Soames dispatches the Yautja. He was left with more unanswered questions, though: Have they been to London before? For the Yautja had chosen its hiding place well. The waters of the Thames are unpredictable, and the underground passageway leading to its lair is submerged for most of the time. "London stands on ancient ground," said Sergeant Thackery, the servant of the Diogenes Club. Was he trying to tell Soames something they've known all along?

And of more recent events, the Radcliffe Highway murders at the turn of the century? An entire household put to the slaughter, with the culprit never caught...

1904 (AvP: Movie)

10th October: Yautja arrive for their feasting ritual on xenomorphs and humans.

WWI / June 18, 1914 - June 26, 1916 (Predator: Bloody Sands of Time)

The Yautja join in the killing during World War I. They were located in several places: near Verdun, Paris, Fort Douaumont, and Belgium.

August 10, 1926. (Dark Horse Presents #46)

The Everglades.. The Big Cypress Penitentiary.

One inmate escaped, and has evaded capture for three hours, despite that his pursuers have bloodhounds. The inmate doesn't want to go back - he'd rather die. One Yautja watches the inmate run.

One of the pursuers, Sherman, complains that as hunting goes, there isn't much sport in it. They have guns and hounds against one convict. The sheriff reminds Sherman the inmate has eluded capture for 3 hours when the bloodhounds get spooked and disappear. The dog handler goes off to catch them, but is promptly killed by the Yautja.

Sherman and the sheriff split up, the sheriff warning Sherman not to fire without a good reason. Sherman walks ahead into waste-deep water, but the Yautja emerges from behind him.

A short distance away, the sheriff hears Sherman fire his gun, but also hears a second shot from somewhere else. When he investigates, he's snared in a trap like a rabbit - a trap set by the inmate. Before the inmate can kill the sheriff, the Yautja kills him. The Yautja then walks up to the sherrif, looks at him, then mutters (in Sherman's voice), "Ain't much sport in it," then leaves him there.

July 1931 (Predator: Strange Roux)

A Yautja hunts in Bayou Lafourche, Louisiana. The Yautja is associated with the Cajin legend of the Gollywomp.

August 16-20, 1936 (Predator: Jungle Tales)

A Yautja hunts in the Serengetti.

It is associated with the Indian legend of the "Dudu Ya Porini" and the Hunting Star.

After WW2 (Predator: Demon's Gold (DHP#137))

A Nazi commandant will risk anything to locate a hidden cache of gold, but when he finally finds it he also discovers that the treasure has a guardian.

1958 (Predator: Kindred)

Fleener Creek, Oregon. Little Buddy Wilcox wished on a falling star that his abusive father would die. But this falling star was actually the ship of a Yautja who made little Buddy's dream come true - right in front of him.

1959 (Predator: Invaders from the 4th Dimension)

Hollywood. Wednesday. Richard Flynn works at a second-rate studio for a second-rate studio. He is trying to sell his latest movie, Invaders from the 4th Dimension. The characters on the screen can't see a creature, but the viewers can.

Meanwhile, at a clear southern California sky, a Yautja ship crashlands. The Yautja has been to Earth several times, the game always plentiful and exciting. He hopes for another good hunt.

Tommy Anderson goes to investigate the crash, wearing the new "4-D" glasses he'll wear to the new movie. There he sees the Yautja, but not when he removes the glasses. He watches as the Yautja plays with some micro-grenades: upon impact, the grenade envelops the target in an electric cocoon. Tommy steals three grenades and tries to run off, but the Yautja sees him. He puts his hand out, wanting the grenades back. Tommy runs, and the Yautja attacks. Tommy uses one grenade on the Yautja and hides. The Yautja cannot find him, and gives up the chase. The game was wily, but not sanctified for the hunt.

Tommy runs into a police officer, but refuses to believe Tommy's story. He humors the boy by puting on the special glasses, but then sees the Yautja chasing Tommy. The police officer is killed. taking back the glasses from the corpse, Tommy hops into the police car and drives away, doing a hit and run with the Yautja.

Tommy drives straight to American National Poctures to see his uncle. He tells the guard to call the police because of the monster chasing him, but the guard does not. his uncle doesn't either, until he dons the glasses as well. Looking out the window, he sees the Yautja and picks up the phone to call the police, then Times magazine. None of them believe him, for he has done such reports before as media attention grabbers and believe this report to be no different. Then the Yautja discovers them and attacks. The two humans rush out of the building and yell at the security personell to call the police. They fail to believe them as well, until an explosion convinces them. Tommy and his uncle race to the theatres, with the Yautja following them.

After the Yautja kills a few humans, Tommy again faces the Yautja. The Yautja simply places its hand out and waits. Tommy returns the micro-grenades and the yautja leaves without further incident.


	3. The Timeline 2

CHAPTER 3

HISTOY AND TIMELINE

1969 TO 1999

TIMELINE: 1960 TO 1999

1967 (Predator movie)

J.S. Davis went to boot camp with Dutch.

February 1968 (Predator: Bloody Sands of Time)

The Yautja were hunting amidst the Viet Nam War.

1973 (Predator movie)

Blain Cooper and Mac Elliot both served in the 101st airborne division in Nam.

1974 (Predator movie):

Billy Sole begins his combat duty.

1977 (Predator movie):

Balancan, Canta Mana. A thatch hut fishing village becomes a front for the US Army.

1979 (Predator movie)

J.S. Davis is on a secret mission to Malaysia.

1984 (Predator: Captive)

Nicaragua. Falkner was running a contra training camp when a Yautja fragged his entire command.

c. 1984 (Predator: Xenogenesis)

At Jakarta, Dancer had been impaled to a stone wall by a Yautja, but Subotai saved him.

June, 1987 (Predator movie)

Balancan, Canta Mana. June. Last time it rains until late September.

September, 1987 (Predator movie)

Sudanese Embassy. Dutch's team blew the entry points on three floors and neutralized seven terrorists iin 10 seconds flat. The terrorists didn't even have time to call in their demands. The event didn't even make the news at all.

Balancan, Canta Mana. 3 weeks later. One of General Phillip's choppers went down. It was transporting three cabinet members of Conta Mana near the mouth of Usamacinta. The pilot radioed from the ground all hands were still alive. Their position is fixed by the transponder beacon aboard.

A Yautja ship lands in a lake bed at the base of a jagged hill 5 miles from the Conta Mana border. It had traveled 16 million miles to search for a sense of self. And for the second time.

18 hours later. A US Army UH-1H assault chopper arrives at night to a "fishing village". People began transferring equipment from the UH-1H into a pair of smaller assault helicopters at the clearing's edge. This is the rescue mission to retrieve the three cabinet members. Al Dillon was to accompany Dutch's team. It was to be a 24-hour mission, and there was no backup. 3 hours after debriefing, they began.

They arrived at the drop site at pre-dawn. 1.5 hours later the reached the downed UH-1H. Dillon went through the dead men's uniforms to get flight plans and records. The pilots got each a round in the head, the chopper was taken down by a heat-seeker and stripped. To Ramirez, the chopper didn't look like a surveillance chopper, but an assault chopper. 12 guerrillas pulled the prisoners, but 6 other tracks lead elsewhere, the tracks looking like they were made by a machine wearing US-issue jungle boots. So, as the commandos moved north, the Yautja studied them from afar.

It was the height of day before Billy "sensed" the Yautja's presence, though he cannot pinpoint the location. He does find the corpses of some prisoners - stripped of their flesh. Dillon is unaware of any covert ops in the area. Billy is puzzled - there was a fire fight, shooting in all directions (4-5000 rounds), yet no tracks at what they were shooting at. There's also no sign of the guerrillas or the politicians. Dutch's team marches on as the Yautja watches.

They come across the guerrilla camp, discovering it is not a makeshift one, and they find the equipment that was stripped of the UH1H 'copter. One of the prisoners, who had been whipped and beaten runs out of a hut. The guerrilla leader exits after him and kills the prisoner.

The Yautja watched as the commandos crept toward the base, disarming a trip wire along the way. Billy kills a guard and the commandos crawl further into the camp, taking their positions. Ramirez readied his grenade launcher. Dutch cut loose the belt-drive of a truck for distraction. rolled down the hill, toward the main palapa.

The Yautja's sensors were temporarily blinded by the sudden grenade explosions. It also felt a kinship to Dutch.

Billy cleared out the main palapa. Blain was injured in his shoulder by a grenade shrapnel. The Yautja gets closer to the fray, but the battle was over.

Dutch surveys the camp, noticing for the first time it was actually a military stronghold. Most of the equipment was stolen, a few of the men were Russian, some may have been CIA. Amongst the dead guerrillas, they find one alive - Anne. Dutch then finds an order to launch a major offensive on the Conta Mana capital and level the city if need be. He then realizes the camp was an invasion army, and Phillip's mission to rescue three politicians was a rouse to manipulate Dutch into blocking the rebel invasion. Ramirez is in the forest, hunting the last of the guerrillas. Blain soon joins him.

Dutch confronts Dillon, who admits to the plot. They've been trying to find the camp for months. Davis volunteered to pull out the CIA.

Dillon discovers the ID of the female guerrilla - Anna Gonsalves. Hawkins informs them that there's movement towards them from all sides. Dillon decides to take Anna with them - she might have info he needs. There are choppers 10 miles away, across the border, but they couldn't pick them up from their current location.

While evacuating, Billy again senses the Yautja's presence. The Yautja, however, went to investigate the carnage the humans left behind. Then it played back a recording - Mac's voice. Then the Yautja begins actively stalking the humans.

Anna attempts to escape from Dillon, but Ramirez stopped her.

Further on, Billy senses the Yautja, even enters a trance to learn more about the creature, yet learns nothing.

Anna attempts another escape, from Ramirez. The Yautja watches as Hawkins is sent after her. Just when he catches her, the Yautja kills him, taking the body but leaves Anna alone in her fear. Meanwhile, Billy tells Dutch in his belief that a creature is hunting them.

Dutch gives the order to move out as Ramirez rejoins them. They head to where Hawkins was last known to be. They find only Anna, still in shock. They search the area and find Hawkin's body, appearing just like Davis had. Though Dutch and Billy believe the Yautja did it, the others believe it was the rebels.

Moving out, Blain was next to be killed by the Yautja. Mac hears Blain scream and races to save him, only to see the Yautja taking off. He open-fired, and when the others get there, Ramirez throws a few grenades. The white flash short-circuits the Yautja's heat-seeking vision. Dutch sets up camp for the night. Only Anna discovers the Yautja's green blood, but is too freaked to do anything about it.

It was night before the Yautja's vision returned to him. In his ship, he removes Hawkin's head and spinal cord as his trophy.

Dillon tried to radio the choppers just over the Sonta Mana border for backup, but his request is denied. He again tries to learn the identity of the attacker from Anna, but gets nowhere. Billy admits to Ramirez he's scared - something he's never said before.

The next morning, Mac thought the Yautja was attacking the Commando camp, but it was merely a wild boar. In the distraction, Anna grabs a MP-5 gun as Billy discovers Blain's body is missing. The Yautja had bypassed all their trip-wires. Finally, Anna tells them about the Yautja blood she found earlier.

The commandos and Anna secure the area. Dutch makes one contraption, hoping at least the Yautja didn't see it. After waiting, the Yautja finally reappears, but sets off the trip wire. In freeing himself, Ramirez was snagged and injured. Mac, in a frenzy, races after it. Dillon elects to chase after Mac as Dutch, Anna, billy, and Rameriz race to get to the choppers.

Dillon reaches Mac, but together decide to attack the Yautja. While attempting to flush it out, it slashes open Mac's throat, and then goes after Dillon. Hurling its spear, it severed Dillon's arm just above the elbow, then it sliced open his chest, killing Dillon.

Elsewhere, the troop hears Dillon die. All but Billy picked up the pace. Billy, instead, stood still in a trance. As the troop cleared a hill, they heard Billy die, too - killed by the Yautja.

The Yautja throws its spear at Ramirez, pinning him down. Dutch covers Anna's retreat. The Yautja threw it's spear at Dutch, but only destroyed his gun. As the Yautja backed away to return to Billy's body, Dutch realizes he was injured at the shoulder, but didn't register it.

The Yautja begins stalking Dutch anew, but Dutch slips down a cliff, through a few canopies, and into the river. As the river carried Dutch away, the Yautja jumped down after him, and nearly lost him. It caught up with Dutch further down the river, where Dutch nearly fainted with exhaustion and pain, and thoroughly covered in mud. Yet the Yautja couldn't see him. It's optics couldn't see his heat source through the mud.

Just as the Yautja left to find its prey elsewhere, the US army helicopters swooped by. Not finding any of the troops, they flew off to search elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Anna races for her life through the jungle, away from the Yautja as Dutch prepared for another fight. Dutch created a set of traps and makeshift weapons, then let out a loud cry - which the Yautja heard and accepted.

When the Yautja came to Dutch, Dutch used all his senses to fight it. He fired a poisonous arrow at where he heard the Yautja land because of a tree branch, but missed by inches. The Yautja retaliated instinctively, but likewise missed.

Again, Dutch waited to detect the Yautja's presence but instead heard Anna, begging him to follow her. It was, however, the Yautja playing back a sound byte. Dutch realized this when he ext heard another voice - Mac's. Almost too late, he tossed a flash-grenade to cover his retreat. A shrapnel wounds the Yautja and retreats as well.

Dutch follows the Yautja's trail of blood, and attacks the Yautja. Dutch has the upper hand until the Yautja uses its wrist knives in a desperate move to get away. As it does, Dutch shoots it with a poisonous dart. He follows the Yautja, avoiding the Yautja's traps, right to the spaceship. Then, using it's own weapon against him, kills the Yautja.

Nearby, two copters, with General Phillips and Anna, retrace Anna's plight hoping to rendezvous with Dutch when an explosion occurs. When they're finally able to land they find Dutch still alive.

1988 (Predator: Kindred)

Fleener Creek, Oregon, is an average Northwestern town, like any other speed zone too small to make the map. It's got a sheriff who's got a longing for action. There are townsfolk with whispered histories - like Buddy Wilcox, who's said to have murdered his own father - and there are locals to whom you'd give the Good Samaritan award - but who dream of doing things that would give Buddy nightmares. Like all small towns, Fleener Creek is a powder keg waiting to blow. But unlike other small towns, Fleener's got a catalyst to set the action blazing - Fleener's got a Yautja.

No one in Fleener would commit violence if the Yautja didn't show up. He's the living embodiment of their primal thoughts. The Yautja is, in a way, a demon that possesses the town, a demon they must exorcise to survive. He's their inner evil.

It's a community where the people leave their doors open but keep their primal selves locked up. It's a community where little Buddy Wilcox wished on a falling star that his abusive father would die. But this falling star was actually the ship of a Yautja who made little Buddy's dream come true - right in front of him. Now, thirty years later, four kindred spirits - an escaped serial killer, a Yautja, sheriff Kelly Mathis, and Buddy - clash in the forest, unleashing the violence and heat of a hibernating grizzly of a town.

1988 (Predator: Big Game)

Cobola County, New Mexico. A Yautja hunts at an Army base. Though the base is destroyed after the Army captures the Yautja's ship, the army still manage to kill the Yautja. They are associated with the myth of adilgashii.

1989 (Predator / Predator: Concrete Jungle TPB)

New York City. A fleet of alien ships arrived in New York; however, their cloaking devices made them invisible. Soon, violent murders began taking place, such as the death of groups of drug dealers, police officers, etc. Suspecting that this was the work of the aliens encountered in 1987, the military tried to cover up all of the murders. Unfortunately, Dutch's brother was a detective for the NYPD, and the Yautjas marked him for the Hunt. Things get worse for Schaefer and his partner, Rasche, as Rasche discovers the existence of a whole fleet of Yautjas ready to invade and Schaefer comes face-to-face with the Colombian drugs lords! Also, general panic continues in New York as the Yautjas hunt for Schaefer and kill everyone in their path! It's all-out war against the Yautja army, and since the army and police want Schaefer and Rasche out of the way- the two must turn to one of their enemies for the manpower they need! Will anyone- or anything- be left standing when the smoke clears?

1990 (Predator: Cold War)

In Yamal Peninsula, Siberia, a Yautja ship crash-landed in the frozen wasteland. Almost immediately, Russian military personnel at local oil stations were slaughtered. U.S. military was dispatched in an effort to either capture the alien ship or destroy it to prevent it from falling to the Russians. Being one of the few to ever combat the Yautjas, the military brought in Detective Schaefer to help, whether he likes it or not. Detective Schaefer and General Philips' elite squad parachute into the icy wasteland to investigate, only to receive a warm welcome from both the Russians and the Yautjas. In the sub-zero ruins of Siberian oil-pumping station, U.S. commandos take on their Soviet counterparts as the super-powers teeter on the brink of war! Only Russian Lt. Ligachev and American detective Schaefer seen interested in going after the real enemy-the Yautjas. Schaefer and Ligachev take the battle to the enemy when they attack the Yautjas' downed spacecraft.

Again, the Yautja took only minor injury from humans, and once they fixed their ship, they left.

1992 (Predator: Race War)

In Konza, Kenya a Yautja hunts hunters of wildgame.

Later, in Tuscon, Arizona, a human takes credit for a Yautja's kills to get fame in prison. The Yautja kills the human just after the human arrives in the Paloverde State Penitentiary. The Yautja remains there, hunting other killers. The inmates kill the Yautja, and a covert team almost get the body but other Yautja reach it first.

1992 (Predator vs. Batman)

In Gotham City, a Yautja begins hunting a boxing champion, then seeks other political power-mongers. Seeing Batman, it makes him the primary target. Though the Yautja defeats the Batman in round one, Batman wins round two. Other Yautja arrive, and the failed Yautja kills himself to save honor. They offer the sabre the Yautja used to kill himself to Batman, then leave.

1993

In August, a pack of four of Yautjas descends on Earth, each targeting a different "trophy." Ghost, Motorhead, Law, and X find themselves facing off against the alien warriors.

Ghost #5:

Arcadia. Being new to the world of the living dead, Ghost is asking several questions of herself: Why was I killed? Who killed me? Why do I hate so much? Ghost begins to search for answers. She enlists the aid of King Tiger, but the answers King Tiger provides may not be what Ghost wants to hear.

A Yuatja hunts a superhuman calling himself Fusion, whose power was plasma bolts. He always hoped they were being siphoned from the heart of the sun. Fusion looses, however, and is decapitated. The Yautja is too disappointed with the kill to take a trophy. Later, he looks over Arcadia and is bored. Tonight he's after something different. There's been rumrs of a new breed of prey here: humans with enhanced abilities. Worthy opponents in battle. On his tracker, he finds what he's looking for: a signal different from the others. It is strong, but suddenly flickers and ghosts. The hunt begins.

He finds Ghost in combat with a legion of paranormal ghost hunters, but only watches. He creates an explosion to ensure she is alone, then attacks. Both blade strikes pass right through her. She then ghosts the tip of her gun through his faceplate, killing him.

Agents of Law #6:

Golden City: a modern-day utopia, once the envy of the world. It was the place where crime rarely existed, where harmony prevailed, where everyone wanted to live. But then things went sour: Titan, one of the city's protectors, went rogue. Grace, mayor and founding mother of Golden City, disappeared. People began to lose faith, to lose hope. Golden City needed a new leader, one who could help this once-great utopia rise again from its pit of uncertainty.

Enter the mysterious man known as Law. Law enters Golden City and seems to have all the answers to the city's woes, but demands absolute authority if he's to set things right. Is he a modern-day messiah who will restore Golden City to greatness, or is he a charismatic killer who craves despotic domination?

Yet now there's someone new in town who has a whole different view of Law: He considers him meat. The once utopian Golden City has become hunting ground to a Yautja, and he's got his lasers trained on Law!

Motorhead #1:

Frank Fletcher has something in his head, The Motor, that makes him off-the-scale powerful - and dangerous. You see, Frank hears voices, voices that tell him to use his power, something Frank just doesn't want to do. Nobody tells Frank Fletcher what to do, and so the power grows within him, threatening to reach a cataclysmic critical mass.

A Yautja has landed in Steel Harbor, and he's looking for big game. This Yautja collects heads, and he's never seen one quite like Motorhead!

X #18:

A cold wind blows along the streets of Arcadia, and black-hearted people on both sides of the law shudder at its passing. Word is out: The X-killer is on the loose! Cross him once and you get a warning; cross him twice and you're dead.

X is pursuing someone when he finds he's got someone on his own tail! Yautja has found his way to Arcadia, and he's looking to bring a couple of souvenirs back with him!

1994 (Predator vs Batman II)

Gotham City. Another Yautja returns to Gotham on a mission of revenge. It watched a playback of Batman defeating a Yautja. It begins to hunt Batman, luring him to a cave. Defeated by the Yautja, the Batman is almost killed, but the Huntress saves him.

Batman encounters two other Yautja, but they are after the one stalking Batman. That Yautja is a Bad Blood. The Bad Blood manages to kill one of the two other Yautja before escaping.

With federal agents getting involved (they've dealt with Yautja before), Batman lures the Bad Blood back to the bat-signal. The federal agents attack the wrong Yautja, and Batman manages to injure the Bad Blood enough to make him flee in his ship. The remaining imjured Yautja chases after it, and destroys the Bad Blood's ship, but is caught up in the explosion himself.

August 10, 1996 (Predator: Dark River)

The jungles of South America. Two recorders and several guides are tracking a Yautja. Despite the fact they are unarmed and helpless, the Yautja slaughters them, with the help of a local tribe, whom he ignores.

Just Prior to October 7, 1996 (Predator: Dark River)

General Philips sent in a 60-million dollor robot to chase down and capture the Yautja in South America. It lead the robot on, tricking it into falling down a canyon.

October 7, 1996 (Predator: Dark River)

General Philips is golfing when he gets a Priority One call from the Pentagon Med section. The med labs finished their analysis of the blood sample sent back by Captain Soames' team. The blood belongs to Detective Schaefer. The Yautja kept a sample and had synthesized it, tossed it around hoping it would be found.

Philips locates a prisoner named Mercer, pretending to be a lawyer. He would get Mercer out of jail if he could convince Schaefer to go back to South America.

October 8-15 1996 (Predator: Dark River)

Detective Schaefer, who is the brother of Dutch Schaefer, is a cop in New York City and he is still wondering whatever happened to his brother. During a drug bust he arrests a drug-running airplane pilot (Mercer) who reveals that he knows something about what happened to Schaefer's brother, that he was, in fact, the pilot on that last mission in South America. That launches Schaefer back into an adventure back to South America to figure out what really happened to his brother.

At the same time, the Yautja Shaefer thought he had back then recovered. The experience, however, drove him completely mad. Now, this Yautja is in the South American jungle running around with this bunch of human devotees (South American tribesmen) causing all sorts of havoc.

Shaefer is en-route to Cobija on a makeshift military transport - Cobija had been cut off since El Prisidente's civil war turned into a slaughter. This is why the transport was bombed. The pilot, Shaefer, and Lopez had been tagged with ankle tracking cuffs - meaning the government gendearmes were keeping tabs. If they did anything to stray from their objective (destroy the Yautja), the president of South America would order them killed.

1997 (Predator 2)

Los Angeles. Mike Harrigan and his anti-drug task force are caught in the middle of a war between Colombian and Jamaican drug lords. During the battle with the Colombian faction, a mysterious presence (a Yautja) intervenes and slaughters the dealers, puzzling the police. The Jamaicans, taking advantage of the power vacuum, move in and attack the Colombian kingpin, but are also taken out by the Yautja.

Harrigan is warned by FBI investigator Peter Keyes to stay out of the case and starts to realize, thanks to a chunk of alien weaponry found in the kingpin's penthouse, that something unearthly is involved.

When Danny, a fellow cop, is killed while investigating the crime scene, Harrigan defies Keyes and meets with the Jamaican voodoo drug lord, who is also killed by the monster.

Two other cops, Jerry and Leona, encounter the alien on the subway and Jerry is killed. Harrigan and Leona trail Keyes to a warehouse, where a team of federal agents is preparing to make contact with the Yautja. Keyes explains about the Yautja, and his knowledge of the one Dutch Schaefer fought. Keyes' attempts to avoid the Yautja's sight by wearing body-heat retarding outfits prove fruitless and, despite Harrigan's intervention, the FBI men are killed.

Harrigan takes on the Yautja and, during a drawn-out combat, tracks it to the spaceship it has concealed under the city. There, using his own resources, he destroys the Yautja. A horde of other Yautja appears, but their leader only presents him with a souvenir - a flintlock pistol, marked 1750 - before departing the planet.

1997 (Predator: Primal)

A Yautja lands in the Alaskan wilderness to fight a grizzly. The park ranger - who is a bear specialist - gets caught in the midst of it. She has a tracer on some of the grizzlies to track their movement and she finds one that gets killed. She goes on a hunt to track down who's killed this grizzly bear and finds herself smack in the middle of this conflict between the Yautja and this grizzly bear - and a forest fire.

1999 (Predator: Captive)

Nevada Desert. Multi-billionaire Tyler Stern, owner of an experimental complex, has managed to capture a Yautja. They severed its arm at the elbow before the Yautja could activate the computer self-destruct. The complex's bio-dome has recreated that Stern believes to be the Yautja's natural habitat: a hot and humid tropical climate, a high methane content atmosphere.

As the humans studies it, it studied them - testing their limits of defense. By the time Falkner becomes head of security, there were several anomalies in their surveillence systems - total blackouts with video camerasa and motion trackers, recorded pressure drops in stmospheric integrity (suggesting unauthorized entrance or exit from the dome).

The Yautja is a hunter. It's patient. It knows how to bide it's time. It's patience pays off, when after 8 armed personnel is slain by the one-armed Yautja, Stern takes its severed limb to it, but the Yautja activates the self-destruct.

1999 (Predator: Homeworld)

The Montana portion of Yellowstone Park. The beginning of the Elk Rut: George Sperling, a photographer, notices what he initially thought was a shooting star, but it lasted too long for a regular meteor. Later, he takes photos as usual of local wildlife. Later that night, he heard shrieking around him. By morning, he went looking for the Elk herd but they were slaughtered. One elk had been carried off almost a half a mile and stung 30 feet up in a tree. Further down, he found a slaughtered black bear. Racing, hoping to catch the culprits, he looks up in the tree line. He saw a Yautja. This one was dressed in typical battle armor. He managed to take a somewhat bad picture of the Yautja before it lept away to chase a barking dog. He is a photographer: this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Two days later. Same local:

Dr. Bergstrom is working on the wolf reintroduction program in Yellowstone. She has the feeling of being watched, from above. It's the same feeling she always get when she's near a Yautja on the prowl. She follows her instincts, curious. It led her into the geyser counry, towards the hot springs and boiling mud holes. Not much can stand the heat and sulphur fumes. Most anything that stumbles into the area dies pretty quickly. She notices that one of the bigger pools' water level had risen since the last time she was there. As though something big had been dropped in it. Then she is attacked by a Yautja. It wears only body mesh, a mask, and wrist blades, as well as a polearm. It wears a belt as well. Its arms are decorated with tatoos. Bergstrom drops her weapon, and the Yautja turns and heads for the trees. She follows it, starting to takes very efficient notes via tape recorder. She is a biologist: this is her once-in -a-lifetime opportunity.

George Sperling stumbles down toward a survivalist-type cabin. There he witnesses three Yautja in battle gear slaughtering a family (a mother, father, two children, and a small dog). Sperling believed they were 'wilding'.

Later that night, the tatooed Yuatja inspects the area. Dr. Bergstrom walks in the cabin, to see the slaughtered family.

One day later: Bergstrom continued to follow the tatooed Yautja. They come up to a small herd of bison of perhaps twenty. The Yautja threw aside his weapon and lept toward the charging bison. It rode the bison for a while, then flipped over its head and threw the bison several feet. Then, without warning, both the bison and the Yautja stopped. The Yautja approached the beast, and patted it on the head. This Yautja has a reverence for nature.

Sperling was becoming frustrated. He had lost the three Bad Bloods, but he did run into two humans on the hunt. Armed with shotguns, they slaughtered them too. One took a trophy as Spering took pictures and, once the Bad Bloods were gone, a shotgun.

Later, Bergstrom watched as the tatooed Yautja dug up some roots and ate it. She wondered how it knew what to eat, and where to look for it. Were they from Earth? After she awoke, she realized she was alone. Rushing to find the Yautja, she runs into a very scared Sperling. Very soon, they are attacked by the Bad Bloods. Bergstrom is confident that disarming would save them, but these creatures are not pacifists. Before the Bad Bloods could kill the humans, the tatooed Yautja interferes. He kills one Bad Blood before they run off, leaving the tatooed Yautja injured. He places his weapon between himself and the humans, signifying that they should leave him be.

Then the humans realize: Carfax is only 600 miles away, and there are still two blood-hungry Yautja on the loose. The Bad Bloods couldn't count on the random hiker or ranger to satisfy their urge to kill and display their skill. The humans follow the tatooed Yautja. In a clearing, hanging in the trees, were eight skulls. The Yautja began cutting them down. Even the humans understand: this wasn't a kill site. The three Bad Bloods went to the trouble to bring the skulls from somewhere else. Spering deduces that the display was aimed at the tatooed Yautja. Leaving body parts lying around would be a slap in the face. Otherwise, the Yautja is upset that they are just kiling things, instead of hunting and trophy-taking.

They continue on, following the displays the Bad Bloods left. It's like they were marking their trail. Spering believes this is a scouting party for an invasion, gauging the strength of an enemy. They use weapons "about as sophisticated as a machete" because of a ritual aspect. Bergstrom reiterates her theory of the Yautja being from Earth. Sperling takes the last of his photographs with the sunset as a backdrop and places the roll in a hollow tree.

They reach Carfax, and everything seems peaceful. Then the three Bad Blood pounced on them from the trees. The tatooed Yautja attacks. There was no honor here, just young ogues taking on the leader of the pride. He was good, but not a match for all three. Spering joined the fight, attaching one of the Bad Blood. The third Bad Blood knocked down Spering as the tatooed Yautja killed one Bad Blood. Spering passed out. Bergstrom managed to tie a tourniquet around his leg before she passed out from sheer shock. When Spering came to, his left foot was missing.

Bergstrom wonders if the tatooed Yautja lived to make it back to his home, if he died on the spot, or if he found one last opponent (a bear?) and went down in battle.

5 days later:

Dr. Bergstrom and George Sperling are interviewed about their experiences with the Yautja. They had already confiscated Dr. Bergstrom's tape journal and all of Sperling's photographs. They are most interested in their tales, making certain "that no one is affected by it." All they want to know is about the Yautja's behavior. The man in black was most interested in the theory of Dr. Bergstrom's common ancestry with the Yautja. The man investigating emails his field people. The email is double-encrypted, and listed under park department communiques to throw off hackers (hackers rarely read these reports- boring). The email states a big problem: altering park entry records, getting rid of vehicles the victims might have left. In other words, false trails, to make it look like they disappeared anywhere but the park. Then, on top of this, he has to clean up the witness problem. Spering knows he would be made to disappear, too. The man in black begins to make arrangements to tell Dr. Bergstrom's husband has been killed in a bear attack. The doctor's team is ready to set an apropriate scene, wounds and so forth.

Spering's last shots of the Yautja, the ones taken at sunset, remain undiscovered in the hollow tree.


	4. The Timeline 3

CHAPTER 4

HISTORY AND TIMELINE

2000 TO 2050

TIMELINE: 2000 TO 2050

June 2000 (Superman vs Predator)

La Jungla De Las Sombras ("The Jungle of Shadows").

Doctor Casey Trabor, Machu, and Dr Marla Rollins (on behalf of S.T.A.R. Labs) are searching for something they hope is an incredible scientific discovery. What they find, however, is a derelict Yautja spaceship. It appears to be abandoned for years. [This is actually the ship left by the Yautja that fought Dutch Schaeffer in 1987]. Casey's advise is to destroy the ship, yet Rollins overrules that idea, ordering Machu and his men to cut down the vines. A large number of human skulls fall out. Rollins, though unnerved a little, suggests they take precautions.

Metropolis. Midtown Labs arranged to transport plutonium in an armored car when terrorists Ed and Renny hijacked it. They manage to cause a police car to spin out of control and crash over the side of the bridge. Superman stops it before it lands on some Marathon runners. Meanwhile, when Ed and Renny find their escape route blocked, they demand a helicopter or they would unseal the plutonium. Superman whisks the armored car in the air, twirls it around at super speed to disorient the crooks, then brings it back down so the police can arrest them. Returning to the Daily Planet building, Lois chastises him for not working with the police. Superman, now appearing as Clark Kent, tells his wife not to worry, that he's had his powers a long time and knows what he is doing. Inside, Ron Troupe quickly fills Lois and Clark in on Dr Rollins' in Central America, hoping that by alerting the media, Superman could help them out. Clark promptly leaves, and Lois asks Perry White for The Planet Learjet to go get that story.

Central America Rollins suggests that the owners of the ship might not be aggressors. Trabor points out the small skull collection. Rollins believes that science is the way forward for mankind. Superman arrives to take control of the situation. Professor Hamilton at S.T.A.R. Labs told him about the ship. He scans the ships with microscopic vision and x-ray vision and discovers what appears to be a self destruct mechanism, and some loose wires - which explains why it didn't go off. Superman rips open the door and is attacked by a sonic blast (too compacted for human hearing).

In space, a Yautja ship approaches. The Yautja turns off a flashing red light that suddenly became active. Then it heads for Earth.

Superman and the STAR team head inside the ship. Superman checks out some circuit boards with his x-ray vision when it begins to fluctuate. Rollins suggests that maybe there is some alien metal that affects him, as does lead. Gunfire is heard outside as soldiers capture the team. Superman arrives to disarm them. Rollins is taken hostage by one of the soldiers, but Trabor rescues her. Superman picks up a jeep to throw at the soldiers to scare them off, but his strength gives out as his vision blurs, and thus he falls over. Though confused, Skane fires an anti-tank missile, which knocks Superman away. He uses his heat vision, which is hard to focus, to ignite a truck's petrol tank and he and the STAR team escape.

Skane informs Mr Ward of their success. Ward orders Superman killed.

As Rollins, Machu, Superman and Trabor escape through the forest, Trabor suggests that maybe there was some sort of bacteria or virus on board the ship that only affects Superman's body. Rollins says that finding a cure is their top priority, but they are suddenly stopped by Machu. Before them lies a huge crater, its sides fused. Machu begins to tell them the story behind the crater, which Trabor confirms after stripping away the superstition aspect. Above them a helicopter appears, though Superman is the last to hear and see it. Skane see it too, and fire a rocket launcher and hits it. Superman uses his x-ray vision to discover that Lois is on board. Using everything he has left, Superman flies up and catches it before it crashes. When Superman gets the chopper safely down, the mercenaries arrive and capture everyone and tie Superman in chains, which successfully holds him.

Elsewhere, a Yautja emerges from a cave.

Captain Skane and his crew take their captives to their secret base hidden deep within a cave with Mayan carvings. No one, not even a satellite, will be able to find them. Rollins is interested in the carvings and Skane explains that the Mayan tribe moved in here to hide from something and then just disappeared. (On the wall, one of the carvings is of a Yautja.)

Inside the cave lies a huge Mayan city, complete with temple and large gun. Walking to the very top of the temple, Skane takes the group in to see Mr Solomon Ward. He is very happy to see Lois, believing she will be invaluable in helping people to understand what he has been doing. Ward begins to explain how he is going to help mankind fulfill its potential, by sending an isotope into the air which will then fall to the ground as rain. To clarify, Skane plays a video, which shows a person with Down's Syndrome and a normal human. They are having a drink. The next thing, the human with Down's Syndrome is dead. Ward explains that the isotope will only kill those people with a genetic disorder and anyone who carries the recessive gene.

Rollins and Trabor are not impressed. Superman tries to struggle free of his chains, but doesn't have the strength. The group is herded off to a cell.

Trabor attacks the guards and frees Superman from his chains. Trabor goes to give Rollins a gun, but she backs away as she doesn't believe in them, and falls over the edge of a cliff. Superman doesn't have time to catch her and she is left hanging from the edge. By the time Lois comes to help, they are all recaptured.

Back at the spaceship, the mercenaries are attacked by the Yautja.

As Marcel and another soldier discuss the ailing Superman's condition, Casey makes plans of escaping by borrowing a hair pin from Rollins. Meanwhile, Ward continues his attempt to get Lois to narrate his project. He hopes that using such a recognized reporter, his project would prevent overreactions. Lois still refuses, and leaves Ward to wonder if Jerry Springer is available. Escorting Lois back to the prison cell, Dumbrowski walks too close to the cell, and is held against the bars as the other soldiers are held at gunpoint. Ward is informed of the escape. He leaves Skane to recapture them, concentrating instead on integrating the Yautja energy pod into his own seeding generator.

Superman plans to return to the Yautja ship, despite objections by Lois. When he arrives, though, he discovers the three guards already dead. Then he is attacked by the Yautja.

As the soldiers near the escapee's position, Casey attempts to hide the group, but Rollins betrays them to Skane.

The Yautja decides to fight Superman in hand-to-hand combat, but when Superman makes the first hit, the Yautja rethinks his choice and begins firing his laser cannon. Superman, unsure if his invulnerability would protect him, retreats inside the derelict ship, and hopes the Yautja will follow. It doesn't, and Superman realizes, almost too late, that the Yautja had repaired and initiated the self-destruct sequence on the ship. It explodes just as he is flying away.

When Skane does a prisoner count, he comes up two short: Casey and Lois.

Soldiers, meanwhile, find Superman regaining consciousness and, much to their surprise, he takes them down, his powers seemingly recuperated. Yet once they are tied up, his fever returns. A short distance away, the Yautja studies Superman.

His powers greatly reduced by an alien virus, Superman must stop the carrier of the plague the Yautja as well as Solomon Ward, who threatens to wipe out a huge chunk of the population! It's a multiple showdown in the jungles of Central America as Superman must simultaneously overcome the alien virus that has sapped his powers; defeat a Ward's experiment in genetic "cleansing"; and keep all sorts of people away from a deadly Yautja!

December 2000 (JLA vs Predator)

JLA Watchtower, Earth's Moon. A Dominion spacecraft nears the tower. It will remain viable for only a few moments longer. They are leaking oxygen and feeding the on-board fire. J'onn J'onzz is on duty and tries hailing them. There is no response. He reports to Oracle he is pulling them in. The aliens are trying to reach Earth with their transporters but they're out of range. So, he links the Tower's transporters to those on the craft.

The Dominators are angered J'onn intercepted their transport beam. Believing themselves captives they attempt to fight back. However, J'onn becomes intangible and uses his heat vision to heat up their weapons. Subdued, they tell J'onn that by saving them, they have begun the Hunt.

J'onn barely survives a Yautja plasma blast and phases through the floor. He informs Oracle of the new intruder, and that the intruder is blocking his telepathy. Oracle wants to call other JLA to the Tower, but J'onn asks her to wait. Then her line with him goes dead when the intruder attacks him from behind.

Oracle summons Batman, Green Lantern, and Superman. Batman can't teleport up because the controls are locked. Superman and Green Lantern fly up. In the meantime, Oracle contacts the other members: Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Plastic Man, and Atom.

Superman and Green Lantern arrive at the Tower. After Superman unlocks the controls, they find J'onn's head on a stake. Superman fills in Green Lantern on what the Yautja are (himself and Batman having previous run-ins with them). Then a headless J'onn stumbles in, still alive. (The only way he can be truly killed is with fire). J'onn reattaches his head, admitting he couldn't sense the attacker's mind.

Batman arrives to look J'onn over, and informs his partners there is no one else in the Tower. The Yautja and the Dominators all teleported to Earth, in three separate locations. He assigns three teams to hunt for the Dominators, and to find out why the Yautja are hunting them.

Venice, Earth.. Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Plastic Man, while searching for the Dominator, are attacked by the Yautja. One follows Aquaman underwater. Another follows Wonder Woman, attacking with a lasso while cloaked. Wonder Woman tries to take the battle away from the area, but her double, W-Yautja, ensnares her in his lasso, floods her body with electricity, and brings her back down. Plastic Man, in the form of a plane, is trying to avoid his double, P-Yautja, who is also in plane form. He manages, however, to find the Dominator.

Aquaman spots the sighting mechanism on his chest and avoids the blast. He pinpoints the origin and attacks his double, A-Yautja. Wonder Woman uses W-Yautja's lasso to get ner him and punches it with all her strength. W-Yautja is dazed, but is still able to get up. Plastic Man intervenes to save her just as Aquaman is hurled out of the water. He again hails the Tower, but J'onn doesn't respond.

JLA Watchtower, Earth's Moon. J'onn has discovered that his double is still on board. This is why he is not answering the hails.

Amazon Jungle. Green Lantern, Flash, and Atom search for the second Dominator, and Flash finds him in no time. However, each hero is attacked by their double. They decide to split up and run. F-Yautja manages to catch up and swipe Flash. GL-Yautja manages to negate a monster created by GL's ring, to his surprise: he didn't think his ring had a weakness. Atom and his double go subatomic. Atom hurls a positive electron at his Yautja. It shorts out his circuits. No one seems to be getting the upper hand, and J'onn is still occupied.

England, the lake district on the NW coast, just below Scotland. Batman and Superman hunt the last Dominator, but they too are attacked by doubles. S-Yautja is moving at super speed, and so Superman can't see him. When he does stop, though, Superman attacks. Batman, thanks to the Dominator's yell, dodges blast from his double at the last second.

JLA Watchtower, Earth's Moon. Finally they are all teleported back to the Tower. J'onn J'onzz explains why he didn't do it earlier. Then Batman confronts the Dominators, asking why they came to Earth. They admit it was to seek their protection. The Dominators confess they controlled the Yautjas. They were cloned and DNA-modified to kill the JLA. However, these Meta-Yautja's awoke early, killed all in the facility, and hunted the first three to Earth.

The Meta-Yautja managed to get back into the Tower. Aquaman decides to switch which Yautja they fight. This proves effective as they together take down the Meta-Yautja. Rather than be captives, the Yautja blast a hole in the wall and are sucked out into the vacuum of space. Despite the knowledge the Dominators make to create more Meta-Yautja, the JLA put them back into their ship and send them home. They have no choice - J'onn telepathically forced them not to prevent it.

2004 (AvP: Movie)

Sunday 3rd October: Satellites belonging to Weyland industries detect a heat bloom beneath Bouvetøya, an island about one thousand miles north of Antarctica.

Sunday 10th October: Billionaire Charles Bishop Weyland assembles a team of scientists to investigate the heat source and claim it for his multinational communications company Weyland Industries. The team includes paleontologists, archaeologists, linguistic experts, drillers, mercenaries, and a female guide named Alexa Woods

Using thermal imaging satellites, Weyland believes to have discovered the ruins of an ancient pyramid temple that predates the Egyptian and Aztec pyramids buried under the ice. Once inside, the team finds the remains of humans with holes in the rib cage and the remains of face huggers, meaning that the possibility of the temple being uninhabited is very unlikely. To make matters worse, five teenage Predators are coming to the temple to perform a coming-of-age ritual that involves fighting to the death with the aliens. Soon, it becomes clear that only one species is getting out alive.

As a Yautja ship reaches Earth's orbit, it blasts a hole through the ice towards the source of the heat bloom. When the humans arrive at the site above the heat source, an abandoned whaling station, they find this hole and descend beneath the ice. They discover a mysterious pyramid and begin to explore it, finding evidence of a civilization predating written history and what appears to be a sacrificial chamber filled with human skeletons with ruptured rib cages.

Meanwhile, three Yautjas land and kill the humans on the surface, making their way down to the pyramid and arrive just as the team unwittingly powers up the structure. An Alien queen awakens from cryogenic stasis and begins to produce eggs, from which facehuggers hatch and attach to several humans trapped in the sacrificial chamber. Chestbursters emerge from the humans and quickly grow into adult Aliens. Conflicts erupt between the Yautjas, Aliens, and humans, resulting in several deaths. Unknown to the others, a Yautja is implanted with an Alien embryo.

Through translation of the pyramid's hieroglyphs the explorers learn that the Yautja have been visiting Earth for thousands of years. It was they who taught early human civilizations how to build pyramids, and were worshipped as gods. Every 100 years they would visit Earth to take part in a rite of passage in which several humans would sacrifice themselves as hosts for the Aliens, creating the "ultimate prey" for the Yautjas to hunt. If overwhelmed, the Yautjas would activate their self-destruct weapons to eliminate the Aliens and themselves. The explorers deduce that this is why the current Yautjas are at the pyramid, and that the heat bloom was to attract humans for the purpose of making new Aliens to hunt.

The remaining humans decide that the Yautjas must be allowed to succeed in their hunt so the Aliens do not reach the surface. As the battle continues, most characters are killed leaving Alexa and a single Yautja to fight against the Aliens. The two form an alliance and use the Yautja's self-destruct device to destroy the pyramid and the remaining Aliens. Alexa and the Yautja reach the surface, where they battle the escaped Alien queen. They defeat the queen by attaching its chain to a water tower pushing it over a cliff and into the ocean, dragging the queen to the ocean floor. The Yautja, however, dies from its wounds.

A Yautja ship uncloaks and several Yautjas appear. They collect their fallen comrade and present Alexa with one of their spear weapons in recognition of her skill as a warrior. As they retreat into space, a chestburster erupts from the dead Predator. It is an Alien/Predator hybrid, as it has the characteristic mandibles of the two creatures.

2004 (AvP: Requim Movie)

Thursday October 14th 2004 AD: On board the Yautja ship and immediately after the events of Bouvet Island the body of "Scar" Predator erupts with a chestburster. The chestburster has taken the characteristics of the Yautja and quickly grows into a new breed of alien called a Predalien. It later sneaks into a Yautja Scout ship that was attached to the main ship and attacks and kills another Yautja onboard the ship. In an attempt to kill the Predalien another Yautja fires his shoulder cannon and inadvertently damages the ship's hull, causing it to crash in the forests outside the town of Gunnison, Colorado.

The last surviving Yautja from the crash activates a distress signal to his home world, just before he is killed by the Predalien.

A father and son are hunting deer when they see the crash and go to investigate, but before they can raise the alarm, both are impregnated by facehuggers that had escaped from the crashed ship.

The distress signal reaches the Yautja home world and is answered by a battle scarred Predator (nicknamed "Wolf"). He views a recording from the Yautja's mask that caused the ship to crash-land. He watches how the Predalien killed crew members leading to the ship's crash, and knows that aliens are loose on Earth. He prepares his gear, selects a mask, and departs.

Meanwhile, ex-con Dallas Howard has returned to Gunnison after time served in prison. He is greeted by the town's sheriff, Eddie Morales. Ricky Howard, Dallas' brother, is jumped by bullies after delivering a pizza to his love interest Jesse. One of the attackers, Jesse's boyfriend Dale, takes Ricky's keys and throws them into the sewer drain, forcing Ricky and his brother Dallas to look for them in the sewers. At this point, the hunting pair give birth to chestbursters and a few more facehuggers impregnate several homeless people in the sewers. Ricky catches sight of a chestbuster and he and Dallas leave rattled after hearing a series of hisses and screeching; they also discover the molted remains of another chestbuster who has now grown into an alien. Meanwhile, Kelly O'Brien comes home after serving her time in the U.S. Army to an estranged daughter and waiting husband.

The Yautja's ship arrives mere hours after the distress signal is received. He is tasked with eliminating the aliens and destroying any evidence of the incident. He salvages equipment from the crashed ship and detonates the vessel to eliminate evidence. Among the salvage is a vial of blue, extremely corrosive liquid used to erase biological traces of aliens and their victims. The local community searches in earnest for the father/son hunting pair, which Wolf manages to find first. He immediately uses the vial to remove evidence of the hunting pair. An officer comes across him as this happens, fleeing once he is discovered. The Predator kills him, skins him and hangs him upside down from a tree top, which is found the next morning by Sheriff Morales.

The Yautja locates the nearest area of possible contamination, the city sewer near the forest. He is ambushed by several aliens, and after a brief fight in which he encounters the Predalien (apparently the leader alien of the infestation), the aliens spread throughout the city through a hole in the sewers leading up into the streets, starting a rampage that eventually leads to the destruction of a nearby power plant, forcing the city into darkness.

Ricky and Dale (now Jesse's ex-boyfriend) are having another altercation over Jesse at the high-school's swimming pool. They don't get far before an alien shows up, killing Dale's two friends. After barely escaping with their lives, Ricky, Jesse and Dale manage to meet up with Eddie and Dallas. They head to a sporting shop for weapons, contacting the incoming National Guard; within minutes, however, the entire force is eliminated by aliens. Kelly, having lost her husband and barely escaping an alien, arrives with her daughter Molly. They are forced to flee when the Yautja arrives, attempting to destroy as many aliens as he can. Dale is killed when a dead alien's acidic blood burns through his face. The Yautja's shoulder cannons are damaged in the attack, but he is able to modify one into a handheld plasma pistol.

Meanwhile, as the small group attempts to escape the town, they make contact with Colonel Stevens, who radios that air evacuation will arrive at the town's center within half an hour. Kelly is unconvinced that there will be a rescue, as the town's center is overrun by aliens and would be the wrong place to stage evacuation. The promise of rescue is in fact meant to keep the infestation focused on the survivors, allowing the town to be nuked. Eddie breaks from the group to join a small collection of fighting survivors who plan to wait at the center of town for evacuation, while the remainder of them make for the hospital in a national guard LAV as it is believed to have a helicopter. Unknown to them, the hospital is under attack and has become a hive for the infestation - the Predalien's ability to implant multiple chestburster embryos into female hosts allows the hive to be created within mere hours. A brief contact with an alien results in Jesse panicking and fleeing - she inadvertently runs into the path of one of the Yautja's shurikens and is killed. Ricky retaliates, causing little damage, but the distraction causes the Predator to be knocked down an elevator shaft by an alien, dropping his plasma pistol. Ricky is impaled by the Predalien, but manages to survive the encounter as the Predalien is driven off. Dallas retrieves the plasma pistol as the group makes for the helicopter.

On the roof, Dallas stays behind briefly to fight off the aliens with the plasma pistol, until he is cornered. The Predator appears only a moment later to brawl against the aliens, leaving Dallas to escape just as the Predalien arrives and attacks the Predator. As the two extraterrestrials battle, the helicopter lifts off, carrying an injured Ricky, Dallas, Kelly and her daughter, just as an F-22 Raptor releases a nuclear device. Both the Predator and the Predalien mortally wound each other just as the small-scale tactical nuclear weapon detonates, destroying all the survivors, the aliens, the Predator and the Predalien within its blast radius. The helicopter gets caught in the shock wave, and crash lands in a clearing.

Dallas wakes to find Kelly, Molly and Ricky still alive and outside the crashed craft. After hearing threatening noises, they find themselves surrounded by camouflaged soldiers. Dallas gives up the plasma pistol, while med-evac tends to his still injured brother; Kelly reassures her daughter that the monsters are finally gone.

The scene shifts elsewhere, to a corporate building in the U.S., where Colonel Stevens approaches Ms. Yutani. He opens the briefcase he is carrying to reveal the plasma pistol. Ms. Yutani states that the world is not ready for this new technology, while Colonel Stevens rhetorically asks "But it's not for our world, is it Ms. Yutani?"

Near future (Aliens vs Predator: Annual #1 - "Old Secrets")

Bradilovo, Bulgaria. 6 years ago Elena left the village to work for the Bulgarian Academy of Science. Today, three scientists are performing an autopsy on a recently excavated body fount thirty meters from the Church of St. George. It is a Yautja that died from a chest-burster (Kiande Amedha). It's skin, however, was still remarkably well-preserved. Hardly any decomposition, aside from the critical wound. Returning to the church, Elena asks Metodi Dobre for an explanation. He then recites a tale as old as the Church itself, about St. George fighting a dragon (which is really a Yautja).

Elena, who has heard this tale before, dismisses it as an old fairy tale. As much as every legend has some level of truth to it, it doesn't explain to her the Yautja's presence. She believes it to be an evolutionary missing link.

Dobre muses, not telling Elena that the Church already knew of the Yautja's presence, since the days of Saint George. He is responsible for keeping them a secret from mankind, who is still not ready to learn of them.

He travels deep into the hill's caverns, and approaches the Yautja ship. In its cargo is a load of eggs. Only one has hatched.

Dobre leads the brotherhood that has strived to keep hidden the Yautja spaceship and the Kiande Amedha eggs and also keeping the secret of the existence of these aliens from mankind.

Sometime after 2024 (Predator: Xenogenesis)

South China Sea, January 21, 2345 hrs. Aboard a civilian cruise ship, a team of military specialists comes to the aid of the passengers on the ship, which issued a SOS and reported a hostile takeover. When the team arrives, they find insane amounts of carnage aboard the ship, along with a few unharmed but traumatized passengers. These passengers emerge from their hiding place after hearing an outrageous battle, believing that the military team that responded to their distress signal is responsible for the bloody massacre of the ship's crew. Only one soldier survived the bloody ordeal - Ostermann - and he's the only one who saw the actual perpetrators of the attack on the ship, after the Yautja who killed his teammates revealed itself momentarily before it retreated.

Sky Rock, Colorado. Feb 17, 0712 hrs. Subotai is an immortal Japanese samurai who has been fighting Yautja for ten centuries. His current adversary took a katana from him many lifetimes ago. He wants this game to end.

Georgetown, Washington, DC. March 27, 0832 hrs. Ostermann is in danger of being court-martialed for his alleged role in this gruesome set-up two months ago. He is also the next candidate being eyed to participate in a covert operation known as Spearhead by project director Admiral John Dancer. He's created the ultimate strike team of rogues and mercenaries - armed to the teeth with state-of-the-art technology. This actually entices the Yautja: man is a more interesting prey now.

Birmingham, England.

Ostermann is taken to a bookstore, which is only a front to Spearhead headquarters. Phyllis is house security and a special boat-service commando. Yet, the band of mercenaries and ex-heroes might be too confident for their own good. Though armed to the teeth with enough weaponry to send Predators scurrying back into the woodwork, there's one thing their enemy has that Spearhead does not: cunning. As Spearhead is unknowingly baited into battle, it wonders what the Predators' true agenda is.

The members of the strike force are: Sienna Truth, Charlie Arrows, Judas Grant, Beatrice Cha'bert, and Dr. Ray Opal. After a period of testing, Ostermann undergoes the operation to enhance his senses, reaction time, and muscle tissues/organs to above standard human potential. The body needs a few days to synchronize with the new input, so the strike team goes on downtime.

Sky rock, Colorado. October 7, 0719 hrs. Subotai stands before a burning village and several dead Yautja. It is his breaking point- he is tired of the game. He declares war on the Yautja. The Yautja is pleased to accommodate.

Birmingham, England. October 7, 1805 hrs. At a bar named Costers, the strike team enjoy their R and R. They'll go to work when they're put on combat rotation as well as Beta, Delta, and Gamma crews. While there, Judas gets a page. The stalkers anticipate a 70% probability of a hunting party strike at a drug bust by L67, the French secret police at the old Eiffel Tower.

Paris, France. October 7, 1935 hrs. The strike force engages four Yautja. They were too late to save the L67. These Yautja are not using cloaks. In the middle of the battle, however, they retreat. They begin a full sweep: bio-electrical, motion sensors, the works. Judas realizes the Yautja they fought were novices; no battle wound, dueling scars, pocket nukes, and no pack leader or older warrior. Something is going to happen.

Spearhead Command, January 29, 1035 hrs. Dancer listens as communications break down with Delta Team, Major Victor Tsung commanding. Tsung was setting up bait for the Yautja in South America; rebel guerrillas, hit-and-run strikes in that sector, listening post potential target, reinforced government troops - perfect bait for Yautja. Textbook mission. They killed everyone, propping up bodies to make the humans look alive. Ostermann and his team arrive. Activating their ship's electro-static discharge, the Yautja's cloaking devices malfunction in the rain the ship also created. They manage to route the Yautja, but not for long. They find Major Tsung, who explains the situation: the trap failed. Now, Tsung is the bait. The Yautja attack. Bea's cyborg arm is destroyed. Gant falls in an explosion. In an attempt to escape, Ostermann orders the tea to crank their gravity 'chutes to -5 earth magnetic (it'd be like hitting a brick wall at Mach One, Dancer warned). At headquarters, Dancer looses transmission. They're gone.

Biringham, England. January 30, 1100 hrs. Subotai walk in to see Dancer (security still not a problem for him). He finds Dancer alone in a room with 5 cryo-beds. It's Ostermann's team. They lived, and had their skeletal structure infused with ceramic/titanium polymers, muscle tissue regeneration using high-tensile, carbon-fiber nano-chains. Subotai explains to Dancer that Spearhead goaded the Yautja into changing their tactics. This isn't a hunt ot the Yautja; this is war games. Their attack in Paris was only a test; South America was their upping the ante. It was an attempt to goad Dancer into another attack, but Subotai has an alternative: set up a trap of their own, with him as the long-sought-after bait.

2189 (AvP PC game)

A new research station is established surrounding the Derelict on LV-426. It is later destroyed when its atmosphere processor goes critical, taking the Derelict with it.


	5. Anatomy and Physiology

CHAPTER 5

ANATOMY OF A SCARY YAUTJA

This is a relatively important chapter on the physical characteristics of the Yautja. It details the known and what is merely theory. I hope this chapter answers any questions you may have about the biology and anatomy of the Yautja.

Yautja Biology

Remote ancestors of the Yautja were probably not the dominant species of their planet (like humans or wolves). But at some time, their immediate ancestor emerged, more intelligent, better adapted to hunting and cooperative hunting techniques. As with most evolutionary tales, several species of Yautja may have developed over the centuries. Eventually, the current species became the world's dominant predator.

Natural/Sensory Abilities:

Thermographic vision to 2000'. See the invisible through thermographic vision.

In Predator 2, when the Yuatja loses his mask his vision, it is not like the first Yuatja we encountered in respects to his vision does not go completely red. Vision is always different for different people. Maybe this Yautja was slightly colorblind, or being a slightly different clan (like humans have Caucasians and Asians) gives him different vision.

They breathe 1% more oxygen, and 4% more nitrogen than humans. They can adapt to earth's natural gases, but it could only last for one week at the most. If Dr. Bergstrom is correct on her theory (Predator: Homeworld), this could be because this is what the atmosphere was like on Earth millions of years ago.

They can hold their breath for several minutes.

Can jump to three times their height, and can fall ten times their height and land on their feet.

Predators can imitate the speech/sounds of other species, but do not necessarily understand the meaning of what they say. They often imitate voices of the species they are hunting to fool or terrify their prey. They do pick up languages quickly, however without formally studying the language as a secondary skill.

They can hear a whisper up to 50 feet away.

Impervious to heat (boiling water gets uncomfortable after five minutes), invulnerable to electricity and to radiation.

They are fast enough to dodge bullets, if they see them coming and can, because of their tough hides, shrug off most small-caliber bullets.

They have no use for magic, and find it disdainful. Only cowards would resort to parlor tricks.

Chances of a psionic Yautja are rare, but those that exist are unbelievably powerful, so much that they will not hunt with normal Yautja. A telepathic Yautja, DNA-modified by the Dominators into a meta-Yautja, fought alongside other "meta-Yautja". They hunted only the meta humans of the JLA.

Life Spans

One of the most pronounced differences between humans and Yautja is longevity, sometimes as long as 1000 years. It is unknown what effects this has to a Yautja, especially mentally, once they attain such an elevated age. There may be a specter of dementia. Thus, their bodies would become masses of writhing tumors or the mere containers of inoperative brains.

The Yautja that have seen to have lived to 1000 years appeared not to be suffering any ill-effects.

Physiology

The Yautja are larger and taller than adult humans, standing at least seven feet (2-2.5 meters) tall but often much taller. Females, seen only by Witchblade and Darkness (AvP vs Witchblade/Darkness), are even larger (and stronger). The female Yautja are known occasionally to throw their mates during moments of passion.

An average Yautja weighs between 250-350 lb, most of this is pure muscle. The Yautja have very little body fat due to their predatory lifestyle and diet.

Children are smaller versions of the adult, and a male will typically father 70 or more "suckers" in his lifetime.

Like humans, they have two arms, two legs, and two eyes. Eye color is usually green or yellow.

They have long black claws, four clawed toes, thick skulls, broad shoulders, and large biceps. Their back is mostly bone.

Their mouths have four mandibles around them, much like a set of lips. Vertical slits of its mouth open wide to reveal inner teeth. These mandibles are used for communicating much like a cat uses its tail to communicate its mood.

They give off a musk other Yautja, and canines, can detect - but humans cannot. When canines sense them, they usually constantly whine, heads down, or else store out and make unhappy noises in their throats. Yautja's scent for aggression is an oily, bitter smell.

As far as environment, it appears that the Yautja prefer hot, humid conditions with an atmosphere rich in nitrogen.

"Not only could they press up against metal heated to 120 degrees Celsius without being burned ... they seemed to relish the heat." (Predator: Cold War TPB)

Yautja have reptilian skin of mottled red, green and yellow patterns.

Their blood is a dark phosphor green, possibly due to different oxygen carriers in their hemoglobins. While humans use iron to perform the actual task of binding the oxygen molecule, the Yautja may be using copper or something similar to it.

Their blood neutralizes Hard Meat's blood's caustic effects (to a degree). It is also carbon-based (Batman vs Predator), which supports Dr. Bergstrom's theory that they originated from Earth (Predator: Homeworld).

Yautja have long hair that is braided into dreadlocks in an extremely painful ritual taking months to perform.

Perhaps one of the most pronounced differences is longevity. Subotai, a former Japanese samurai, has been fighting Yautja for over a thousand years. (He has lived that long because he has eaten Yautja flesh.) Subotai has had the same Yautja opponent for all those centuries.

Similarly, Li Yat Sen (aka Gideon Lee) had stayed young since 1320 by eating Yautja flesh.

Are the Yautja Shape Shifters?

Terrestrial animals exhibit some flexibility in their shape and color.

Puffer Fish can swell their bodies to several times their normal volume, making them look too big to eat to their enemies.

Several insects fade into the background by virtue of the fact that they look like tree branches or leaves.

Some insects go through a complete revamping, known as metamorphosis, morphing from larva to pupa to adult.

Mammalian figures during birth.

Snakes can unhinge their bones at the cartilage joints.

Chameleons, small lizards commonly found in Africa and Asia, have the unique ability to change the color of their skin as means of better blending in wit the background, thus avoiding the hungry eyes of potential predators. Their skin contains three layers of pigment cells. Each layer corresponds to a primary color: red, green, and blue. Any color can be generated by combining various intensities of red, green, and blue light. By expanding and contracting various cells in these layers, the chameleon can produce any skin color it desires.

In reading the novelization of the movie, Predator, this gives the suggestion that the Yautja was indeed some form of shape-shifter.

"It somehow discerned living tissue from inanimate objects by picking up heat patterns of living cells. It saw the outlines of all living creatures shaded with a sort of liquid color that was the pulse of the heat of life. But 'saw' is very imprecise, for it only had eyes when it felt like having eyes. It was like a lost soul searching for a form in which to flower."

"Since it needed no earthly form of its own beyond what it chose to assume, it was incapable of feeling emotion toward any of the earthling tribes."

"It was impossible to say to look, whether monkey or crow or something more mutant. If one of the men had looked straight into the leaves with binoculars, he might have caught the yellow gleam of an eye, but the eye was only a nexus of nerves, spun from its own secretions like an insect's nest."

"It quickly searched the surrounding sky till it settled on a hawk sailing gracefully by, its wings held perfectly still while the heat-soaked air currents wafted it like a billowing schooner. The unearthly intruder followed the bird's flight with its heat vision. Then, with its sixth sense power of capture, it zeroed in on the hawk's presence, it's mind steering the bird toward it like some remote-controlled toy."

Rise To Dominance

Yautja emerged as the dominant carnivorous species on their world. Covered mostly with extremes of sweltering swamps and burning deserts, the average temperature runs between 190 degrees Fahrenheit! As with most species, their society was forged in the heat of wars that lasted for eons. They fought mostly for the hunting rights of a region, and only the strong survived.

Eventually, as the wars subsided due to attrition, their species settled on one final way to establish dominance: Competition and the Hunt. Individual combat always took place as a hand to hand event, wearing only a loincloth, and relying only on personal strength. When they were finally contacted by another species, hoping to settle on a little used continent far from the Yautja; the response was more than easy to predict. Several landing craft set down, and returned to the mother-ship, loaded with irate hunters. They defeated the would-be colonists easily, and took to the stars.

"Different predators require responses, you know. With some, you must stand your ground, or they perceive you as prey. While with others, confronting them is seen as a challenge."

(Dr. Bergstrom, Predator: Homeworld #2)

Origins

Dr. Bergstrom theorized that the Yautja encountered in Yellowstone (1999) was on a pilgrimage to Earth, to return to its roots, to their spawning grounds, following some homing instinct across space. There are so many gaps on the evolutionary chart. Creatures that apparently disappeared virtually overnight. Her theory was that these creatures were from Earth's distant past, evolving from some ancestor, a proto-mammal or some such. They had escaped the mass extinction other races had succumbed to.

Maybe they did evolve here. The mountains were once full of the biggest game there is (dinosaurs, etc.). They could have survived, and having run out of challengers, moved on. Conditions were different where they went. Somebody once speculated that if crocodiles had better circulation, they would be dragons.

Migratory animals use magnetic fields to navigate. Perhaps there is some kind of conductivity in space. Perhaps their ships pick it up. This is why it's a rare privilege to return. Normally one like the tattooed Yautja would be allowed, but not the Bad Bloods.

The above is an X-ray diagram of a typical Yautja skull. As you can see, the mandibles are hinged, allowing for a greater area of movement. As in lizards, the sockets behind the eyes are for ear holes, as the Yautja do not possess any visible out ears. When the Yautja ages, the dome ridges of its head become more pronounced, as does the variation in the number of teeth and tusks.

Vision

Of particular note is that Yautja vision appears (from our perspective) to be shifted into the infra-red region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the films, this vision is apparently enhanced by the masks the Yautja wear. In the first film in particular, when this mask is removed, its owner appears to experience a much-reduced quality of vision (although it still appears to see in the infra-red). Given that a species is likely to evolve a vision system that suits its habitat/lifestyle, this suggests that either the Yautja homeworld orbits a star with a different spectrum to our own, or that the Yautja have evolved in a different ecological niche to our own (e.g. nocturnal predator). The seemingly poor vision quality in the absence of a mask may simply be a consequence of the light conditions on Earth (i.e. in more appropriate conditions, Yautja may have perfectly serviceable vision).


	6. Culture and Society

CHAPTER 6

CULTURE AND HONOR

This chapter is broken into five parts; RANKS, ROLES, CONSEQUENCES, BAD BLOODS, and RECOGNIZING HONOR. This chapter focuses on the basic roles of society and honor in the Yautja community.

THE CODE OF HONOR

The Code of Honor is the highest law of Yautja society. It is taken with the utmost seriousness. To break the Code is to stop being Yautja, and becoming that is to be killed with as little consideration and honor as an illness-carrying insect: they are destroyed when met.

A Yautja without honor must prove himself in the new caste he finds himself in (or herself in rarer cases). They may have weapons and armor but no trophies, having traded them off for newer trinkets. When a predator finds dishonor and his caste discovers this, he must either face consequences or be outcasted.

Ranks:

ETA: The untouchables of the Yautja. Mostly they are the lame or the crippled, who are unable (or too cowardly) to join the hunt. Instead, they serve as slaves and do menial jobs for the hunters. They are ridiculed and humiliated on a daily basis by the other Yautja.

UNBLOODED: Young Yautja who are trained the skills necessary for their adult hunting. They will move to the next rank after their first hunt. Death challenges were forbidden. They can only issue claw-challenges. Also, hunting pyode amedha (humans) was forbidden. They represent about 40% at any one time.

YOUNG BLOODS: Recently blooded Yautja. They are young, reckless, full of ambition and feel full of pride once they have collected the skull of their kill, which amuses the more experienced hunters. About 30% of Yautja at any one time are considered "Young Blood."

BLOODED: The only difference between the BLOODED and the YOUNG BLOODS is that the BLOODED have more experienced but still not classed high among the great hunters. This represents 20% of the Yautja population.

WARRIORS: Violent, respected, solo hunters with high Yautja technology. They travel the Universe to find honorable hunting.

HONORED: The Elite of Yautja society. They have earned more kills than the average hunter and are skilled in all ways. They comprise approximately 10% of the populace.

ANCIENTS/ELDERS: The greatest Yautja that have ever lived, they have survived a thousand hunts. They have hunted so much that they look for other means of sport. Consequently, they are more compassionate and disciplined than most other Yautja. Many have learned new fighting techniques over the ages. For example, one "Ancient" who had hunted in 16th century Japan learned "Hira Baraki," or two-sword combat, continues to use it today, and has two custom swords. These represent less than 1% of the entire population.

ARBITRATORS: Yautja police that mainly consist of ANCIENTS who are bored with the Hunt. They represent judge, jury, and executioner. There are no appeals to their decisions. The Wolf Predator in AVP: Requiem was an Arbitrator.

BAD BLOODS: The criminal caste. These are usually serious nutcases even when compared to your average Yautja. Many have committed crimes such as murder of another Yautja, killing prey that is not game or failing in the hunt. The "Arbitrators" are constantly tracking these. About 5% of all Yautja are "Bad Bloods," and in the above castes, the number of these criminals has been added to the total amount.

Roles

Alpha - The leaders of a pack are the alpha male and the alpha female. They hold the allegiance of the rest of the pack by continually asserting themselves over their offspring from birth through maturation. When traveling, the alpha male usually heads the pack and chooses the route.

Beta - A beta male lowers his head when around the alpha pair to let them know he will obey them.

Subordinate - These are usually young Yautja, but occasionally are former alphas who have lost their positions. If they remain with the pack, subordinates play a strong and important role in helping care for and feed others.

Omega or Scapegoat - In large packs, there is often a lowest-ranking member who becomes the focus of the pack's social aggression. This Yautja seems to be a scapegoat and may actually become an outright outcast. This may be part of the process by which pack members disperse and become independent, rather than remain at the bottom of the pecking order or on the fringes of the pack. While with the Yautja, Machiko was a scapegoat, despite her honorable rank.

Lone Wolf - A young adult which has left the pack. It may find a new, suitable place to live and mate.

CONSEQUENCES:

When the Predator is placed in the negative, his weapons will be removed to off the balance. He is never removed from his caste, but is considered a dishonored member of it. Because of the high honor of Honored and Elders, the chance of them being dishonored in this nature is virtually impossible. Usually only Warriors and under find this level of punishment. Eventually, if the dishonor is so great, the warrior must give up all possessions. If this eventually puts him back into the positive honor, he may continue in the fight.

Most crimes for Yautja are obvious, and are dealt with by an Arbitrator. False accusations of an Honor Code violation will get a Yautja torn limb from limb when the news of the discretion is made public.

However, sometimes when each party is accusing the other, the case is resolved by a wrestling match. Usually this is to block out or off ring, but in the case of one side accusing the other of claiming another's kill, it is to the death. The most common reasons for a match is as follows:

right to hunt

right for hunting ground

settle a petty dispute

recalim honor

claiming the kill of another

If the Yautja remains in the negative, he is considered less of a person. These dishonored live without quarters in the slums of the ships, forced to live on whatever they can find. Most here do not believe they will ever be strong again. Some try to fight for honor and challenge other Predators for their honor to be acknowledged again. If they continue to loose, their dishonor grows deeper. If their dishonor continues, this Predator is no longer allowed in the Caste. They cannot be reduced to another caste…the Predator is forced to endure discomidation. Stripped of his honor and banished, this Predator is left with his clothes and maybe a side blade on a planet to live the rest of his life without honor. Some of these Predators continue the hunt in their own mind. Some others kill themselves. Others adapt.

These Predators are not outcastes, just discomidated and not acknowledged. Outcastes are different. If a dishonored predator who freely accepted his punishment is needed again, there have been reports of an elder making a special case and letting a trained discomidated Predator on a hunt. They usually have no major weapons and armor. If they survive, they are accepted. This is extremely rare. A hunt occurs on a planet with a dishonored Predator and that Predator saves the life of the leader. That Predator may be brought and accepted back.

BAD BLOODS / OUTCASTS:

The criminals among the Yautja have committed crimes such as murder, dishonorable hunting and failure. Strangely enough, other Predators can recognize Outcasted Predators on sight, as if their face is placed on a bulletin board for all to see. If discovered to have dishonored the caste and the Predator flees rather than accept punishment, there can be no forgiveness. The Predator flees with what he or she can carry-some of them already earned a ship or they might continue their dishonor by stealing one-never to return.

Outcasted Predators that leave this way are never accepted back. Upon seeing them, honored predators are ordered to eliminate these dishonored fools. Outcasted Predators do not often hunt except for food.

They travel, always alone, from place to place, aimless, without purpose. Some are evil incarnate, hunting and slaying anything alive, even other Yautja. This is the unfortunate norm since most dishonor is had not by defeat, but by crimes against the caste. There have been reports of a rare few predators that have been outcastes, only to exist as farmers on an abandoned distant world. It does not matter what life they have chosen. Outcastes are outcastes and those who help them are as bad as they are.

RECOGNIZING HONOR IN OTHERS

Predators are, in many ways, isolationists, which do not accept others into their broods. However, if a member of another species shows to have amazing honor, there have been known to be reports of a mutual respect between species. Most of the time, however, the Predator considers this an opponent and worthy trophy. This is always the case with hunters in Honored castes or less because they are in the constant search for more honor and will find it anywhere.

However, Elders are more laid back, having earned enough honor for a permanent position. They consider honored fighters of other species as respected as their own kin. Elders have often let warriors of other species live after they have proven themselves honored warriors. This usually only occurs if the subject has killed a Yautja or fought alongside a Yautja in a fight. There is also a common practice in these cases, to maintain honor by exchanging trophies by both sides. This can offer equal or more honor than killing the opponent.

Currently, there has been only one story of a human living in a Yautja community. This came from her fighting alongside an elder predator in a hunt. When he died, the human was accepted into the caste because of the obvious endorsement from a late elder. She was given the Mark of Honor, and therefore, became accepted.

YAUTJA SOCIETY

Psychology

The data in psychology are always on observations of behavior. Through Darwin's natural selection, living things have acquired innate predispositions to behave in ways that promote their survival environment.

Many survival-related behavior patterns are "wired into" the animal's nervous system and triggered at the appropriate time by the co-occurrence of specific stimuli in the environment (such as the sight of an appropriate mate) and the events inside the body (such as the heightened production of sex hormones).

Unfortunately, not much is known about the social interactions of Yautja when not on a hunt.

Social Anxiety

In the Yautja's world, they encounter genuine threats to their physical safety everyday. However, some threats have more of a psychological impact. These psychological threats trigger a mild version of the fight or flight response, that we call anxiety.

Anxiety is a danger or an alert signal. Social anxiety is also called a social phobia. An individual with this problem has persistent fear of social situations, and is fearful of embarrassment. People with social anxiety realize that their fear is exaggerated, but they still cannot control it. They tend to avoid situations in which they need to perform in front of others, and this tends to interfere with life adjustment in some way.

The Elder Yautja (AvP Annual 1: Chained For Life) was a Master, with the laurels of an entire world laid before him. However, such exalted status demands to be constantly proven in a society where all must improve their position in their pack, or die. He would be replaced, or challenged. Thus, he embarked on one final, glorious hunt - although he was well aware that he was growing past his prime, and died by the Kiande Amedha's talons.

Reproduction

It is assumed that even Yautja must be attracted to each other enough to initiate sexual liaisons. All senses are connected to sexual attraction, but smell, the most primitive one, is primary.

"And cleanse your ears as well, you smell of child-bearers musk. Hurry or your betters will wish to mate with you."

(AvP: Hunter's Planet)

Yautja may know instantly which female is in estrus (heat) and at what stage her cycle she is, since their acute sense of smell can detect "child-bearers musk". It is unknown that, once deprived of the sense of smell, the males would become sterile or if the female would continue to go into heat.

Males generally father up to 70 "sucklings".

The female Yautja are known to occasionally throw their mates during moments of passion.

Yautja reproduction is unknown. Females of nearly all earth mammals are sexually motivated only during a specific time in their hormonal cycle. Their male counterparts know instantly when this time occurs, and at what stage of her cycle she is in. Since the Yautja can smell the musks of other Yautja, this might be a possibility. Humans and pygmy chimpanzees differ in this. These females are permanently in estras (heat) - which means they can be sexually motivated at any moment. With the Yautja lifestyle, a male might die on any Hunt. Thus, females might need to be able to breed at any moment, and so this also might be a possibility.

Breeding/Mates

Not much is known about their breeding period. It is assumed only one female in a pack becomes pregnant (usually the dominant female) Sometimes two or more females may breed.

In other earth animals, including most primates, copulation occurs in a stereotypical way, with one set of postures and movements form the female and a different set for the males. Humans are hampered only by imagination. considering how ritualistic the Yautja are, this might be how they copulate.

There is always the threat of castration for males - not only does it eliminate his chances of continuing his line, but also any rank he may have had in male society. Such males would most likely kill themselves in such a situation. It seems reasonable that only females would ritually castrate, males giving each other the respect of killing their opponent instead.

"To think that the elders had once considered him unsuitable for breeding, had even considered severing his gonads."

(AvP: Hunter's Planet)

It is known that they are not monogamous. In such an atmosphere of high competition for breeding rights among males (it is the male who must attract the female), there are many males who never get the chance to breed. These frustrated males may turn on their subordinates.

Thus, the Yautja who do breed have proven themselves by hunting dangerous prey and gaining many impressive trophies. It is not uncommon for veteran warriors to sire hundreds of offspring with multiple mates. A second windfall of this accomplishment is the admiration of their clan brothers, which they spend most of their time.

Youth

Their longevity may suggest that sons live with their mothers for much longer then we would before leaving. It takes longer for them to grow up and fend for themselves, and daughters stay with their mothers for the protected environment to raise their own children and maintain dominance over their clan's territory.

Mothers during this time would teach their young to fight and survive and they hunt for, protect their own children, and are viciously and relentlessly protective.

"Predators aren't big on theory, with them you learn by doing."

"She trained me as she would her own."

(Aliens vs. Predator: Deadliest of the Species #10)

A female clan would thus be made of succeeding layers of generations; daughters, mothers, grandmothers etc. It would be easy to consider such a clan would be led by a single matriarch.

Considering longevity once more, it takes a lot of energy to raise a child, and so individual females would probably only have a child every decade or two and would be very particular about who was to be the father, and perhaps choose favorites, but do not have permanent pair bonds. This leads to very high competition among males.

The Pack

Packs are the common social structure in the Yautja society. Males live in packs of generally unrelated males and females live in clans of related females and their children.

Every pack develops its own unique personality, its own way of doing things within the rules of honor and the Hunt, that differentiates it from others.

Whereas humans on earth were agrarian, the Yautja never settled down. Their culture revolves around the concept of hunting and stalking prey.

The nomadic nature of males suggests that they have no 'home territory' of sorts, but that their home is what they carry with them. Their ships for example, are the territories that they carry with them. Sons would be more interested in whom their fathers were than daughters, for it may reflect their rank when they leave.

"He looked through the dancing young warriors for Nei'hman-de, whose blood he shared by the same father."

"He was Leader of the Ne'dtesei, son and grandson of ship leaders and warrior trainers..."

(Aliens vs. Predator: Prey)

Some packs may last a relatively short time, breaking up after one or two hunts. Others remain together for years, inhabiting the same space, hunting the same territory, and maintaining certain behavior patterns, even after the founding members have left or died.

Matriarchy

Since females rule over their territory and generally run internal affairs, the Yautja have a matriarchal society. Rarely is it ever needed to be enforced however, males do not involve themselves with female politics and females are uninterested in male socialization. Males conquer. Females rule.

Should the need to enforce this arise however, the male would not only be against a female physically larger then himself, but also her sisters, and their mothers and grandmothers etc. The brethren of this unfortunate male would offer no support, only their derision.

"A warrior who would dare such would not be wise, for an insulted and angry yautja female was not something even a not-too-wise male wanted to create. Assuming the warrior was armed and expert, it might almost be an even match, but Dachande would put his wager on the female. His most recent partner had tossed him across a room during the heat of their mating and that had been an accident."

"Yautja females were bigger then males ... It also explained why this warrior was smarter then most of the yautja he taught. Females of any species were usually smarter then the males."

(Aliens vs. Predator: Prey)

Hierarchy

So, males hunt for one reason, status. Every member of the pack has a place, or rank, within this order. When a Yautja with a higher rank has a disagreement with a Yautja of a lower rank, the lower-ranking Yautja usually gives up without fighting.

The Pack may contain a dominant breeding pair and other adults. These Yautja retain their leadership until some circumstance forces them out of this position (bad honor, limited Trophies). Events in Avp Annual #1 (Chained To Life and Death) would seem to dictate this.

The dominant male (the Leader) would determine when the Pack hunts and what prey is taken. Initiating the majority of attacks, the alpha male is sometimes injured due to his boldness. The alpha male also claim first rights to all food.

The role males play in their society, that is postulated, is keeping any outside race from interfering with the internal affairs of theirs. Basically, they intimidate other races into submission to protect their females breeding grounds; in addition, the fact it is very amusing to them.

Very early in life, young Yautja may start to establish a dominance order among themselves. They may start fighting with each other every day for a number of days. In the end, one of the sucklings will yield to show that it gives up, and the other raises its tail to show dominance.

Each warrior has trophies on their walls on the homeworld. As proper, a warrior kept only those he thought worthy of his wall. Soft Meat skulls are highly prized, the centerpiece of the wall.

To take a trophy of another Yautja, living or dead, is considered to be a great insult. For example, two Unblooded go on their first hunt. One Yautja takes on a kiande amedha and moth are mortally wounded. while the wounded hunter is dying, the other Yautja conveniently finishes off the prey and claims the kill as his own, abandoning the wounded Yautja. This is the most embarrassing crime, and the hardest to prove.

Yautja that worried more about their ambitions rather than True Glory would, normally, be found out and dealt with, hoisted on their own petards. That, after all, was part of their nature. Ego was a genetic as well as a cultural development in True Dominators. Ambitious fools tended to get themselves killed at an early stage or warriorhood; however, an occasional hothead would advance to leadership and make a mulch of things - a situation not considered particularly bad, but rather, a challenge.

These creatures do not understand compassion. If a person could sit down and explain it to them, they would be challenged to a duel within five minutes of opening their mouths, as the concept would offend the Predators greatly. Mercy is not given nor expected, but they do understand it and will usually accept it as an opportunity to walk away from a lost duel with honor. The most misunderstood of their codes, the prohibition against killing the young, is not due to any sense of morality. It is simply there because it wastes what could become a real trophy later.

Hatred was not unusual in a Yautja, but generally reserved for another of their species. Hatred for the hunted usually meant fear.

Female Hunters

It is a gray area why females would hunt for trophies. Females do hunt for trophies (Aliens vs. Predator: Deadliest of the Species #5) but it may be for somewhat different reasons then males. Dominance may certainly be a factor yet not necessarily the only reason. Perhaps it is to show their ability to protect their territory, from enemy female clans. Perhaps to show ability in protecting their children, both their own and their sisters. Perhaps just for a laugh. However, this is entirely speculation.


	7. The Hunting Lesson

CHAPTER 7

THE HUNTING LESSON

In Africa, sportsmen and hunters refer to the most dangerous animals as the "Big Five": cape buffalo, rhinos, elephants, leopards, and lions. There is some disagreement as to where each animal ranks, but its the predators that generally top the list - with rogues considered the nastiest of them all.

Rogues work alone. Cut off from their tribe, rogues forget fear. They forget survival instincts. They forget their code. A predator that forgets its code, strays from its natural path, is a danger to every other creature, even those of its own kind.

(Taken from Predator: Race War #0)

Predation and Procreation

Predation: the natural cycle requiring death to sustain life. Each creature hunts or is hunted, each is driven to kill or survive.

Procreation: the preeminent drive is to survive. Each creature strives to pass on its genes, to preserve the species. They'll live on in future generations, or they'll pass silently into the night - leaving no sign that they ever had been.

Life consists of these two things for the Yautja, hunting and breeding. The Hunt is sacred, the cornerstone of their race. In fact, the methods of Hunting and combat are known as the Path, and it has very specific rules to be followed.

This code appears similar to human warrior's codes such as Bushido and chivalry in that it promoted bravery, martial skill, and loyalty to the pack.

Leaders

Very similar to a pack mentality, the strongest and most efficient member of the group is the leader. This alpha male controls the actions of the group.

The Leader is always first to set foot on the Hunting grounds. Also, part of being a leader was not to seem excited by the prospect of a training Hunt, or at least show that excitement to others.

A good leader has many students still Hunting. The measure of a teacher was the life span of those he taught; the longer they lived, the better the teacher.

Only on the leader's command can the Yautja, after a training hunt, get their awu'asa. They run into the piles of equipment. There is always enough to suit them all, but they fight for the better trappings; the stronger male would get the prime supplies. That was always the way.

No one would start a fight without the Leader to witness it. Neither would they hunt without a leader's supervision.

When the Leader enters a room, all heads bow. It is a sign of respect and submission

Challenging a Leader in anger is certain death, although a leader does not have to kill one of his own to prove anything.

When a pack challenges one's assumption to the role of Leader, the kiande amedha chiva (Hard Meat trial) would prove his worth.

There is only so much slack a Leader could give one who has broken the rules of the hunt, though, before the rope must be pulled taut. Then, the Yautja has to be destroyed. It is the law; a matter of honor.

A Leader should not make excuses; in hunting, they didn't matter - you died or you didn't.

A leader should handicap himself on a hunt by only using a spear or ki'cti-pa (wrist blades). Females smiled upon a brave male more often than they did others, and a Yautja did what a Yautja had to do to bolster his line. When the Final Hunt takes place, one should leave behind a legion of younglings.

Warriors and the Hunt

The first step in becoming a warrior was the agony of the pleating of their locks of tough, wire-like hair - a process that took months of ritual and scalp pain, performed in public sessions. If there was any sign of tears or even the tiniest voicing of pain, then the intricate weavings would be undone, and the candidate had to start from the beginning.

A true warrior never speak of their own battles. They allow others to tell the tale, holding a serious mandible at the embellishments they add in the singing of it.

The wedge of the older, glory-hogging go first in a hunt. All were equal in honor, all were esteemed. However, the Yautja are much like Earthly predator packs. The members jostled for dominance, and the older, smarter, and more experienced members are generally either given deference or simply plowed past the more awkward young members.

Even the brave must know when to run away from danger. Stupid men are not brave, they are simply dead. (Predator: Big Game TPB)

The older the Yautja, the less likely it is to use firearms. Any Yautja can shoot something to death, but it takes a real warrior to kill with knives and bare hands. For the same reason, not all Yautja use their stealth suits. The truly brave (stupid?) Hunt the Xenomorphs with only their bladed gauntlet.

The very last man had the least honorable position in battle, albeit a necessary one.

Good warriors stayed open to new information.

Beings of other races who prove worthy on a Hunt may well be accepted into the Yautja society. Such adopted beings are Blooded like a normal warrior. Of course, many Yautja, especially the young, resent the fact that a non-Yautja runs with them.

Insult no other hunter unless you are prepared to back your words with actions. If you are not, submit immediately.

Too long in one place creates stale kv'var (exercises). It blunted the warrior's soul, and made the Path rocky and illusory.

Hunting

Greek historian Xenophon argued that hunting is an asset to society, in that it promotes the well-being and health of the hunter.

Human hunters of larger game (like deer) employ four techniques:

Still-hunting, used when game is known to be in the area but no specific animal is in sight, involves following tracks and looking for signs such as antler-shredded trees or urination areas. The hunter moves quietly, on the alert to shoot should the quarry be sighted.

When stand hunting, the hunter takes position along a game trail and waits for the quarry to go by.

Stalking is done when a game animal is sighted but is out of range. In this case, the hunter tries to move into rifle range while remaining hidden and downwind of the quarry.

In driving, or beating, a group of hunters moves through an area deliberately making noise and trying to frighten game animals in the direction of other hunters.

"I wondered what it would be like to hunt something that was capable of hunting me: the challenge, the danger. To put yourself on an equal footing with nature.."

(Aliens vs Predator #0)

Hunt Guidelines

During the hunt, Yautja employ a silent system of hand gestures to communicate with each other. This "sign language" is very simple and only capable of relating simple messages or ideas.

The hunter must be sure that his prey is considered game, and lawful to kill. It is dishonorable to Hunt something that is not a threat; those who have done no harm should have no harm done to them.

Never kill a non-fully grown member of an intelligent species, they are harmless. Penalty is combat to the death.

On a hunt, it is criminal to leave even a single prey behind.

When hunting for food, take only the weak. This is to purify the species' line.

The Yautja will generally ignore unarmed Oomans, especially women. If a person is skilled enough to be dangerous without weapons, the Yautja will be more than happy to fight. Of course, they consider a Kiande Amedha dangerous anytime.

It is considered a great honor by the Yautja to participate in the hunts, which obtain the Kiande Amedha queen from which they obtain their supply of eggs. To obtain a live queen, the Yautja hunting party must venture into an Kiande Amedha crèche, succeed in defeating all the queen's warrior drones, and then subdue the queen herself. Many of these parties never return.

When working discreetly, the Yautja tend to take their trophies and dispose of the bodies cleanly.

When a hunt needs strategy and tactics, strength did not make up for stupidity.

"Classic predator move - stake out the trail and wait for the prey to run straight into your arms." (Predator: Captive)

Move well or die; this is the main lesson of the hunt. There is no room for error.

Yautja will make good Hunting by stocking an area. They will capture a Xenomorph Queen (no easy feat) and harvest the eggs. These eggs are then scattered in an area with suitable hosts. After a few days, the Yautja will come in and Hunt the bugs. With the bugs' known penchant for survival, this results in the inevitable spread of aliens around the galaxy.

Fight until death or victory. If you are given mercy, accept it, you dishonor a greater warrior than yourself if you do not.

Those who defeat Yautja in a fair hunt and show mercy are to be considered equals. The Yautja must either kill himself and their prey (preferring to die than to live in shame), or treat the prey as an equal. To kill another Yautja intentionally, however, is the worst crime. This excludes self-defense and killing a foe in a wrestling match to settle a dispute.

However, some cowards prefer to live in obscurity rather than die. This is considered to be dishonorable and suicide is then "assisted" by an Arbitrator. It is far better to be brave and die than be cowardly and survive by hiding from the enemy.

There are no rules in war. Fight to win, and do not hesitate.

Trophies and Trophy-taking

"Incapable of rage or fear or pity, unable to understand that what [the Yautja] had done to the dead was a vile dishonor.."

When coming upon game wounded by another hunter, and the animal is dying without sport, show honor to another's kill. If the game still shows sport, it is to be a joint trophy.

Do not join another's hunt, or hunt in their territory, without their permission. All trophies taken by this manner are stolen trophies, and shall be dealt with by the rightful oner.

A Yautja's status and pride is measured by the power of the creatures it Hunts. The Yautja claim the skulls of their prey as trophies. Always take a trophy. There is nothing worth more. Such trophies are treated with great honor, and they are polished and displayed at home. The trophy skull of an Ooman is the centerpiece of any collection.

The highest insult in Yautja society is to be killed by another Yautja who then smashes your skull rather than claim it as a trophy. It is a way of saying you were not worthy. This is a tremendous dishonor to the family and Leader of the Yautja thus killed. On the converse, it is a great honor to have your skull displayed by your killer, as it shows they considered you a noble conquest.

"A warrior's place is in battle. A hunter's place is in the hunt. Take the hunter from the hunt and he loses his way." "In any hunt, the hunter and the prey are drawn together by forces beyond their understanding. It is the way of the world. Often, the time isn't yet right for the hunter to hunt. Or for the prey to die. That too is the way of things."

(Predator: Big Game TPB)

It is only acceptable to give a trophy to another if done as a sign of utmost respect, or to replace a ritual weapon.

During a hunt, the main prize is to be treated honorably, subordinates are nothing, eliminate them ruthlessly.

DEATH AND THE BLACK WARRIOR

The Soul/Death

The central issues concerning the meaning of our existence on Earth always raises questions about the possibility of an afterlife, and if we have a soul.


	8. Death and Rituals

CHAPTER 8

DEATH AND RITUALS

Black Warrior

The Black Warrior eventually wins all battles.

For a brave being, one would probably care for the dead before it's usl-kwe (final rest).

All Yautja are worried about their deaths and the proper manner of them. There might not be any witnesses to carry the tale to their friends and relatives. No one would know if they had died bravely or not. But in the end they would know. All beings died, later, sooner, no one escaped the Black Warrior. But if it happened in battle, did they not meet the gods with blood on their blades, their laughter at Death still echoing around them? That was the thing; that way lay honor.

Smiling into the face of Death was sometimes said to unnerve even the Black Warrior.

A noble death was as much a victory as a noble conquest.

RITUALS

The major landmark of human experience - birth, puberty, marriage, and death - are celebrated with rituals. They mark the passage from one stage of life into another, and both celebrate and prepare the individual for the responsibilities and joys to come. Initiation rites such as circumcisions and ritual tattooing in some societies, often involve ordeals of endurance, suffering, and torture. The communal participation in these rituals marks the common experience of humanity in the recurring cycle of the renewal and destruction of life.

RITUAL - THE BLOODING (OR RITE OF PASSAGE)

This is a ritual where a young Unblooded Yautja goes on its first hunt. The difficulty of this hunt depends on their standing amongst the community. About a dozen Unblooded goes with a veteran, usually one of the Honored, onto the hunting grounds for the first time. Depending on the difficulty of the hunt, the young are given a certain standing in the community.

Part of the ritual goes as follows:

"Who demands the honor of facing this fresh Meat first, alone?"

They would all brandish their weapons as one, fiercely yet quietly.

The leader would then mock: "You are fools all. Yet, the first part of the Path lies through the door of the fool."

The rite of passage hunts are generally conducted on uninhabited planets. Before a hunt begins, the Yautja "seed" the hunting grounds with kiande amedha eggs which are obtained from a captive queen. Once the eggs hatch and the kiande amedha brood mature, a group of Unblooded warriors lands on the planet, supervised by two or three veteran warriors. Equipped only with hand to hand weaponry and armor, the young Yautja are sent out.

Knowing the danger presented by the kiande amedha to the local ecosystem, the Yautja will not leave a planet until every kiande amedha is killed. However, it is believed that kiande amedha infestations in the galaxy may be caused by the Yautja failing to account for every released kiande amedha.

On a difficult hunt, failure usually means death, either at the hands of the prey or by suicide; many consider death more honorable than in failure in a hunt. Should the hunters succeed, they must stand by their kill for approval and are then marked on their foreheads as one of the Blooded.

MARK OF HONOR

All Predators that make it to Young Blood have a mark burned into their foreheads to denote their position as successful Hunters. All who have this mark is recognized as a true Hunter. The mark can only be given by Elders.

Each Clan has a different insignia for the mark of the Blooded; usually they are symbols for ferocity or courage. Ceremonies often occur but most of the time, this mark is awarded after the first hunt.

Some of the Yautja have special laser scalpels for the Blooded insignias, but blooding with acidic blood and other means of permanent marking is also common. No warrior would tell another species what that mark meant, much less how to apply it. Not under any circumstances.

Blooded warriors are seldom afraid in battle. They accept that dying could come at any time.

It has been known that at least a half dozen humans have been blooded. This is looked down on most of the Yautja community, and a hunter who "bloods" a human may be considered a "Bad Blood." Some of the Ancients who respect their human foes have approved of this action, and so far the "blooding" of humans is only considered eccentric, and not criminal.

Once Blooded, there is no longer a place for the dreams of the youths. A warrior did not waste time looking over his shoulder at the past. Done was done.

Other rituals

The Chant of the Midnight Kiss: One by one, the Yautja would raise their spears and voices in the sky.

Part of the Ritual of Readiness is to advance, the spear out in front of them.

A Yautja places himself into a stance, raises their hands to their mouths, and make the Call: a high ulation punctuated by a gruff, low-pitched snarl. They let it unwind for a full 10 seconds. Then wait. This is the Summoning (ka'rik'na) and the Battle-Dreamtime (mesh'in'ga).


	9. Technology and Science

CHAPTER 9

TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE

Summary

The equipment used by the Yautja is primarily of their own design and manufactured under ritualistic conditions. They take great pride in their level of technology, and guard its secrets well. It is considered extremely bad form (although not a punishable offense) to leave anything behind on a hunt that might give any intelligent prey a greater advantage.

Also, note that hunting amongst star-faring societies that have relations with the Yautja is not advised. The chance that it could start some sort of conflict is often too great a risk. The Yautja are not afraid of it, but war always takes time from the hunt, which is their preferred pastime. Hunting at distant colonies or member worlds distant from the core of a region is allowed, however.

As with the weapons, most of the equipment is given to a hunter at their coming of age ceremonies. Some equipment, such as battle armor, is only assigned during periods of war or bug harvesting.

HUNTER PADDING

This is basic armor, given to new warriors trying to attain a position in the upper castes. The padding is a basic mesh that does not offer much more protection to the thick hide of the Hunters already. Most are designed as armored jump suits meant for casual wear in the corridors of their dark vessels. This is the closest they get to flight suits. This keeps the Yautja warm even at -50 degrees Celsius.

ARMOR

Hunter armor is the equivalent to the Marine M3 body armor, which offers protection where you need it the most. The armor is light and maneuverable but it is still vulnerable to heavy strikes.

The armor used for the tradition of the ritual hunt has been in use for thousands of years amongst the Yautja. In this time, its form and function has undergone very little modification. All Hunters will be bestowed this gift at their coming of age ceremony.

The pieces of the Light Hunting armor are forearm bracers, lower leg bracers, shoulder plates, belt, armored briefs with groin-cup, belt and sandals. There are six hangers on the basic belt for other assorted items.

Medium Hunting Armor is the standard suit, but includes an integral heater, chest and back plates (light grade), the knees are better protected, and quadricep (thigh) plates.

Heavy War Armor is not used for traditional hunts, but has found strong popularity for harvesting bug queens and bringing down massive trophies. Almost fully environmental, this armor was also designed during the period of antiquity that spawned the Hunter standard armor. During this time, the Yautja were less concerned with running into more powerful societies, so when they did encounter one, they were ill prepared.

Built for the open battlefield, the Shift field on this model is not as effective. The suit has mounting positions on both shoulders, which can support heavy weapons. The pieces on this suit includes all those listed for the standard, but the shoulder plates extend almost to the elbow, and it includes torso plates, heavy quadricep covers, and a light exoframe. The mesh is also replaced with an airtight cloth, which covers the joints and areas not covered by the hard plates. In fact, the only uncovered area of this suit is the Hunter's hair, hands (which always have a partial glove in any suit), and sandals.

Usually only reserved for the upper castes and the elders, Ceremonial Armor is only found on one hunter per combat team usually, always the leader. He stands out from the group as a proud symbol of honor and leadership. This interchanging plate armor is somewhat clunky, offering more dazzle than heavy-duty defense. However, the ceramic plating is composed of a foreign compound, which seem immune to the Kiande Amedha acidic blood. This makes the armor very efficient when fighting the hostile species.

Light Hunting armor weighs 15 pounds. Medium Hunting armor (recommended for hunting bugs) weighs 20 pounds. Heavy Hunting Armor weighs 35 pounds.

KNEE PAD

One of the most flexible of all the padding used by the predator is the kneepad. Made up of special metals more advanced than any other metal the predator uses. The padding is six inches thick on the shin area, and eight inches thick on the knee area. There is a holster on the outer edge of each kneepad. This holster can carry the Net Projectile Launcher, an unattached and/or spare wrist blade, or the combi-stick. The kneepads are very flexible, but very durable and strong. They improve the predator's running abilities, and form its posture for better bone structure.

BACK PACK

The body armor consists of 2 parts, mainly the front, which holds extra protection, and the back, which holds a mainframe battery. The mainframe battery feeds energy to the shoulder cannon rounds, reloads it, powers up the wrist computer, and energizes the cloaking device. The Predator's armor, computer system, and external batteries are linked to the backpack by the mainframe computer. The mainframe battery can last up to 40 years, and even then can be easily recharged in minutes. The mainframe battery acts as a heart for the armor, and recharges durability to the armor when the predator chooses. The backpack is protected by a 4-inch thick metal unknown on the periodic table. This metal is undoubtedly the strongest metal ever encountered by man. It is believed that it would take radiation to make it rust and only then could it be punctured. The predator uses the backpack not only as a source for energy to the armor, but it is also used as a spinal protector. The predator's spinal cord is severely brittle, and can be broken easily. Thus, the invention of the backpack.

HUNTER MASKS or HELMETS

This is the basic mask worn by lower caste warriors. It does not offer the radical spectrum viewing seen from upper caste warrior helmets but only head protection and atmospheric support (gas filter to adjust atmosphere gases to a breathable buffer substance). This respirator is also capable of being used underwater similar to scuba gear.

The Yautja's home world was very similar to earth conditions, The primary exception is the high levels of methane in the air. This breather provides the hunter with a trace supply of the gas, filtered in with the air from earth like worlds. This pressurized system also keeps the mask firmly attached to the hunter's head. The system provides a one-month supply of methane.

They can change their vision, using the buttons on their left gauntlet. A Yautja operates the mask by pressing buttons with its tusks. The controls are customized by the individual hunter, and can be changed in a few minutes.

The helmet records all events in a 360-degree view, enabling the predator to see playback video in all directions. When the predator is under water, it can use its helmet with Sonar technology, seeking all sound events tracked, and directing itself to the point of origin.

The mask is not only a functional piece of protection, but also a personal identifier. Each mask is customized by its owner in some way, and is presented with their first set of armor. The helmet has several integral functions.

AUDIO WAVEFORM ANALYZER

A function of the bio-helmet that is usually separate, the Waveform Analyzer reacts to changes in the audio environment. A flux in the displayed waveform indicates the presence of an enemy that may or may not be in a Warriors line of sight.

Sound analyzer - can break down sounds into a raw phonetic pattern, allowing the Hunter to learn how to speak any language, even if it takes him longer to understand it.

Audio booster: can pick up a whisper at 500 feet.

BIO HELMET

This helmet can filter through five settings: Infrared, Ultraviolet, Thermal Imaging, Low-Light Amplification, and Air Density Pressure (movement). It can also have switches for X-rays and Microwaves. It has a built it Magnetometer and a Geiger Counter. These offer almost unlimited viewing scale to see anything in almost any environment. It also works with the Laser Sight to lock onto targets. The Helmet also offers more protection than the basic and is acid resistant.

Some hunters occasionally use ultrasound, but the audio buffers need to be kicked up to full or the sound will injure the Yautja's hearing. Note that the Yautja cannot see in the visual spectrum at all.

LASER SIGHT

The tri-beamed laser sight is an advanced tracking and aiming sight. It works in conjunction with any weapon but is primarily designed with the Plasma Caster. The laser will lock onto any target within visual range, to a distance of 3000 feet. It also affords the hunter a 3-D analysis of the opponents' shape. This beam can also be used to heat things up to the temperature equal to a small bonfire.

CAMOUFLAGE DEVICE (a.k.a. shift suit)

To hunt successfully, the perfect camouflage is needed. Every Warrior is given these techniques. Perfectly mirrored with his surroundings, he becomes invisible.

This arm-mounted mechanism is the source of the unique capabilities of the hunter to render him virtually invisible. It works by creating a strong field, which bends light around the Hunter-only the distortion of the bend causes a slight visual apparition. If spotted, the target is still hard to see. Only mounted weapons are effected by the cloak. This includes only concealed weapons like retracted claws and collapsed spears or other weapons kept hidden by pack-sacks and so forth. Once extended or revealed, the weapon is visible.

This only affects vision, in no way dampening sound or reducing the smell of the predator. Creatures whose "sight" is not based on reflected light will not suffer (i.e. the Kainde Amedha have no eyes). The special lenses in their helmets also allow the Yautja to see each other when they have enabled their shift suits.

The suit is notoriously unstable in water, and getting one wet will shut it down. It is also conceivable that the suit would be ineffective in environments saturated with particulate material surrounding the wearer such as fog, rain, or dust.

The armor is not heat insulated, so anyone with thermoptics will be able to spot the hunter unless the surrounding environment is of equal temperature. The suit is totally visible using any form of ultrasound based vision (which also hurts the Yautja's hearing), ultraviolet beam radar, or personal radar. It is 90% effective if motionless.

If one kills while cloaked it is a great dishonor. It ignores all laws of fair and honorable hunting, and gives the prey a fighting chance. A Yautja who is discovered doing this is usually banished from the Clan, and is considered fair game for other hunters. The only exception to this is to "remove" anything standing between the hunter and his prey, or if the hunter is attacked by a creature he is not hunting.

GAUNTLETS

The gauntlet houses controls for the self-destruct, Shift suit and their Shoulder burner auto-targeting override. It also housed a small weapon that shot a wishbone-shaped projectile (Model II). The computer is tied in with his landing ship, and can locate, pilot, and destroy the ship.

WRIST COMPUTER

Run by the mainframe battery in the backpack, the arm bracer computer (integral to the bracer of the Yautja's offhand) is the control unit for many of the functions of the suit. It is designed with efficient use of space in mind, and the bracer will always be a little larger to accommodate this. From it, the hunter can control optics, sound analysis, temperature control (if heated mesh is in use), weapon power, and the holographic shift functions.

This is also the countdown device for the self-destruct function of the micro-power plant, housed inside the armband. The wrist computer can also set off a self-destruct device that makes an electrically charged light bomb explode, and its destruction leaves a crater with a diameter of 200 feet.

Also, note that if the armband is destroyed, the nuclear plant becomes inert, and all power to the suit is gone. Also contains small homing beacon for retrieval after a hunt.

This weapon of last resort is used by warriors to keep the honor when they die. After the arm mounted device is set, there is a one minute countdown until a micro nuclear weapon is detonated, destroying everything in a 200 acre radius. The device becomes part of the armor suit and can be disabled.

MEDKIT

Vital to anyone who lives on combat, the medical kits of the Yautja includes bladed instruments, fire sources, drugs, powders, and various other items. With these, they are able to cauterize wounds and stop bleeding. They can even extract bullets from their own bodies, albeit painfully. A Yautja with a med-kit and a little time can stop the most serious aspects of their wounds.

One of their technologies is the ability to grow skin back in minutes where the skin is broken, by speeding up the white cell duplication. Another technology is the ability to make pain stop, using a drug that magnifies "mind over matter" in the brain as well as sending powerful drugs to the effected area. A clean way of "stoning".

The predator is very strong, so the use of the med-kit is limited to close combat. The med-kit is carried in a holster on the belt. It carries within itself, several tools that are very durable, and portable, looking the size of a spoon, then growing into a dish. The med-kit is normally used once each hunt, and is not relied upon very often.

What's in the MediKit:

Medkit, Light Duty: One shrapnel extractor, two wound clamps, one stimulant shot, one tube antiseptic.

Medkit, Medium Duty: One shrapnel extractor, six wound clamps, four stimulant shots, one tube antiseptic, and Wound stapler.

Medkit, Heavy Duty Deluxe: 1 Deluxe lighted case, 1 shrapnel extractor, auto burner dish, 4 wound clamps, spatula, 2 vials super antiseptic (acidic enzyme, which when combined with silicon (glass/sand),and limestone (chalk/tile/etc.), forms a form of biological mortar that can patch any hole from a bullet hole to a severed limb), Super-stimulant (acts as a berserker drug) Case has 12 hour rechargeable battery.

Emergency Methane Breather

Provides an additional eight hours methane for the hunter (in the event the mask is lost/destroyed). System is only active when pressed firmly against the face.

Trophy Preparation Kit

Bone scrubber, flesh dissolving enzyme (12 uses), drain tube with vacuum, catch bag, skull piercer, bone polish and preserver, 12 dressing hooks, 300 ft cord.

WEAPONS

KI'CTI-PA (WRIST BLADES)

The Ki'cti-pa is the weapon chosen for most Yautja. Twin blades, double-edged, and sharp enough to tear through bone, these retractable blades are effective against large and small opponents. Using it shows the Yuatja pride, because they must fight face-to-face. They are the recommended first weapons because of their effectiveness. The barbs on the back are typically used against unarmored foes, and the weapon can be used to parry/trap other blades. Length is 6 to 18 inches. Width is the blades can be spread from two to eight inches apart.

Acid-resistant claws are almost identical to normal Wrist blades. In fact, the housing is the same. These new blades are only an inch longer, and are immune to all forms of damage including alien acid. The blades are virtually indestructible. The damage is only slightly more though. Those who have fought for many battles usually have made this simple upgrade.

SCATTER GUN

The Scatter gun is a hand-held plasma gun that fires a net of energy out to a long range. The weapon is, unfortunately, very clumsy, taking up a hand which can be replaced by melee weapons. Most prefer the shoulder mounted plasma caster.

NAGINATA

The Naginata is part weapon, part ceremonial trophy. It is a beautifully, plated, and encrusted pole arm with double bladed ends. Each end is a super sharp collection of knives causing devastating damage if struck upon a hapless victim. The blades can flawlessly cut through almost ever substance and is totally immune to alien acid. The Naginata also has a conducting field which allows it to be cloaked when in hand. When the weapon strikes, however, it becomes visible. The Naginata is an image of Honor and demands respect when brandished.

It is 7 feet long and weighs 8 pounds.

DART GUN

The Dart Gun is the closest Predator equivalent to a pistol. It fires self-propelled flachetes that inflict little damage but do come with a poisoned dart. The weapon is small and easily concealed. The launcher uses a highly compressed air charge.

Length: 2 inches of blade, four inches of shaft that fit into the launcher.

Weight: the firing mechanism weighs 4 oz, darts have no appreciable weight (1 oz.)

NET LAUNCHER

The Net Launcher is small and usually reserved for when a Hunter is planning to enter a major combat area and the temporary incapacitation of a subject is necessary. The net launcher is not a kind weapon. The net usually pins a victim to the floor or a wall with razor sharp wire that viscously cuts into the flesh, making an escape a painful experience. It has several high penetration spikes around its outer rim.

The net is only large enough to entrap one creature roughly Yautja sized, but it fires with enough force to pin a creature against a wall or thick column. The force of this projectile can also lift a 100 kilogram target off the ground and throw him up to 12 feet and flies at 200 mph to 500 mph, depending on the thickness of the oxygen in the immediate area. The net needs a blade to be cut. This keeps up until the subject is released or is killed. The net can also release on a trigger from the weapon.

The projectile launching device is hand held by the Yautja, and the trigger is hit by the thumb on the top thumb support. The launching device is carried inside of a holster that can be attached on either the backpack, or one of the kneepads.

Length is six inches, weight is 6 oz.

Forearm Plasma Caster and Laser

Used in tandem with the more powerful, shoulder mounted version, the forearm plasma gun has far greater accuracy in the short range. The weapon, unlike the larger one, is not fired by the Predator's lower mandible (tusk), but is actually triggered when the hunter fully extends his arm. It weighs 2 pounds and has a range of 400 feet.

Forearm Laser

Almost identical to the small plasma caster, this weapon sacrifices a little power for a lot of range. The weapon is also fired when the hunter fully extends his arm. It weighs 2 pounds and has a range of 2000 feet.

THE COMBI STICK

The Combi-Stick is self powered, telescoping spear that is merely one meter at its shortest length. The CombiStick extends by two meters at each end, making it a formidable weapon for close range attacks. Made of nearly unbreakable alloys, sharpened tips on either end produce electrical charges as it slices through any surface.

Once thrown, it will maintain a 99% straight trajectory until it runs into something, or until it goes 1000 ft, when it will fall to the ground. When this happens, it retracts into its travel form and waiting to be found by the hunter that threw it. Also an excellent pole-arm for whirlwind Bo-style attacks.

By twisting the grip and pumping the shaft like a shotgun slide, the hunter can send up to a dozen skewers into his prey. It weighs 6.5 - 10 pounds. Its battery lasts 2 years.

Maul

The Maul is a personalised designed weapon. It varies in appearance, but its general usage is the same - used in similar style to a sword, but its power is greatly increased by its counter-balanced design.

Mostly created from a forged alloy and double-edged, the Maul is capable of being used as a slashing weapon in all arcs of movement; but it can also be spun like the Naginata, to rain a barrage of blows onto a target.

Other designs are reminiscent of the 'mace heads' or 'morning stars' of the gladiatorial era - either solid material with protruding spikes, or forged from a metallic alloy and covered in pointed nail-like objects.

THE SMART DISK

The Smart Disk is thin and ultra light. This internally powered airborne weapon is crafted of materials that produce the Combi-Stick, easily slicing through an opponent with its devastating razor edges. The blades extend when drawn, bringing it from an oval configuration to a circular one. When thrown, it will leave the thrower's grasp and do severe harm to anything living in its flight path. (It creates a disruptive field around itself, which can cut through the hardest of metals.) Much like a boomerang, it returns loyally to the hand of the thrower, but this is due to electronics, not aerodynamics. The disc will burn out its power core if not picked up by someone within thirty minutes.

The diameter is 7 inches when sheathed, 11 inches diameter when in use. Weight is 3.5 pounds.

The Elders decree that the concentration needed to retrieve a combat standard disk is not present in minds of young Yuatja, therefore disks are not given until proven they can use it wisely.

Shuriken

The Shuriken, very similar in characteristics to the Smart Disc, is carried and transported as a flat circular device, but the push of its surface transforms it into a multi-pointed, sharp edged throwing star. Also like the Smart Disc, it is self-charged by an internal power supply. The Shuriken can be thrown at an opponent, or used in hand-to-hand combat if necessary, cutting through many substances with its many razor edges. When thrown, internal computer-controlled gyros (or possibly a remote homing device) returns the Shuriken to its wielder.

SHOULDER PLASMA CASTER

The Shoulder Cannon, the most powerful aid in a Warrior's arsenal, is a mounted and lightweight weapon capable of firing multiple long-range blasts of super heated plasma. It has a 180 degree firing arc horizontally and 90 degrees vertically and fired the Predator's lower mandible (tusk), as the fire controls are located on the inside of the mask/helmet of the Predator's armor.

The destructive power unleashed by these bursts is immense. The weapon tracks with the head movement of the firer. The weapon must be attached to a Hunter's Mask or a Bio Helmet for this to work. It can be used with the Laser Sight to increase the targeting capacity. It is powered by the power pack of the suit.

It is one of a Yautja's most powerful weapons, and is used only in hunting prey with similar capabilities. This weapon is often discarded by older warriors.

It weighs five pounds and has a range of 1200 feet. The batter running the laser rack can run up to 10 years, and the battery generating the rounds is effective for up to 8 months, but can be recharged with a special kit.

Dual Shoulder Mounted Heavy Laser Cannon

A fully wartime weapon, this blaster system uses a single targeting mark to home both blasts in on. A favorite when harvesting "bug" queens. It weighs 12 pounds (total) and has a range of 5000 feet.

Shoulder Mounted Micro Missile Launcher

Also a wartime/harvest weapon, this launcher system uses a similar targeting system to direct the small semi guided rockets towards their targets. These shots can also be laser guided to a moving target if the Yautja keeps his tri-beam locked on to it. The system has a single mount to the center back and one shoulder, or can have a second launch arm added for half again the cost. The weight is 35 pounds. The missiles themselves weigh about a pound. Its range is 4000 feet.

Anti Vehicle Plasma Bolt Cannon

This weapon would never be used for a hunt. Designed primarily for defending Predator landing craft, this weapon launches a "packet" of compressed plasma to a distance of three miles! Fired in the same way as a bazooka or rocket propelled grenade (RPG), it is considered barely "Yautja portable". This weapon has the approximate power of a shipboard laser cannon. Only good for sixty shots before needing an overhaul.

Simply put, this is a dirty radiation weapon. The relatively unfocused energy is deadly for even mildly prolonged use to any race with human like tolerances to radiation. The Yautja have a strong immunity to high radiation levels, so they use this weapon with impunity as needed.

The weight is 175 pounds and its range is 3 miles.

BURNER

This is often carried by Yautja on bug Hunts. It is a hand-held flame-thrower. Each blast is equivalent to a blast of napalm.

SIDEBLADE

This is a standard 12 inch blade common with the lower castes.

CHEMICAL SPRAYER

This sprayer can fire a multitude of toxins and drugs, or acid, all of which are used when an energy weapon is inappropriate, or the hunter wants to take his trophy alive. The sprayer uses a highly compressed air charge.

It is 1 inch in length. The sprayer mechanism weighs 3 oz, the chemical housing 1 oz.

SHIPS

EACH YAUTJA SHIP IS EQUIPPED AS FOLLOWS:

Radar blanketing. Though not cloaked like the hunters, all Predator ships have radar shielding. They cannot be seen by any scanning system with the exception of gravity sensors.

Ghost Imager. All ships can confuse missile-targeting systems.

Turbocharger. All ships can boost their systems. This doubles speed and number of attacks. This can only be done once per hour.

Reflective coating. All Lasers do half does not apply to Plasma weapons.

Environment Protection. Predator ships can travel in any environment including flying to almost to the chronosphere of the sun and even underwater.

Remote Operation. They can autopilot in an atmosphere and in orbit as well as between systems. They cannot fire automatically but can dodge an their own. They can drop a Hunter on a planet then retreat into orbit and wait for the signal to pick up.

Mass Destruct Sequence. Similar to the self-destruct sequence, this is a major scramming of the reactor that results in a major thermonuclear reaction. The Hunter must arm this system by remote or directly on the ship. The explosion will destroy EVERYTHING within 1-km radius and will cause 20 K the next 100-m dropping by one K every 100-M past that.

Self-Destruct. If set by the Predator or if he/she dies, the ship automatically disintegrates. Some form of chemical reaction occurs which eats away at all components. The ship does not explode, but simply vaporizes, leaving no remains.

Targeting Analyzer. Predator ships can scan enemy craft with extreme detail. This involves specifying weapon systems, life sensors, etc.

The ships have no airlock or antechamber between the opening and the ship's actual interior. The air inside is a heavy, oily smell, and is thick with warm fog reducing human visibility. The light is a dull red-orange glow that comes from the red walls covered in elaborate, incomprehensible patterns and kiande amedha armor.

The ships itself are fully automated, though the Yautja do know how to work them.

It is unknown if forcefields or some other device keeps the inside air in while the door is open.

The curving corridor opens out into a large chamber' patterned red pillars joined floor to ceiling; while other curving passages or rounded bays opened off every side. The ships are mazes.

NER'UDA (STANDARD SUTTLE)

The Standard Yautja Shuttle is a small, dropship-craft designed for a quick, atmospheric interception and insertion of a single hunter looking for honor. They are short-range craft and cannot travel outside of the system they are dropped in. Shuttles drop almost exactly like Marine dropships with the exception that Shuttles offer very little in atmospheric maneuverability. They have no visible power source. The vehicle drops into the atmosphere and does not even begin breaking thrusters until 2000 feet above sea level. Predator drops occur twice as fast as Marine drops.

The Shuttles are also significantly smaller. They hold air and food for one Hunter with extra capacity for a comfortable number of trophies. The shuttle, after a completed mission, launches out of the atmosphere in less than two minutes. Other than that, the shuttle is not much use. The ship is very clunky with few armaments. It lands and can then bury itself in the ground or launch into orbit, invisible to sensors, awaiting the order to self-destruct or retrieve its hopeful successful hunter.

NOTE: The Shuttle is that small craft that broke away from the larger vessel at the beginning of the first Predator film.

MAN'DACA (STANDARD CASTE VESSEL)

The Hunter Families move around the systems usually in these ships of varying size and design. It is rumored that each group customs their own craft. Over generations, the ships become more distinct from the original format.

The Standard vessel is what the hunters usually employ but they do not often land in hunting zones unless larger groups leave. Members from all castes live inside the craft. Lower decks for lower castes are damp, humid, and unkempt. Fires are used for cooking and hunters sleep on floor. Upper castes have their own quarters and get the best food. Fights rage between the castes in an attempt to move up the ranks. Those who have earned it rise. The most honored command the vessels to their new hunt. If they do not find one, they can also start one.

These vessels are equipped with shuttlecraft to drop Predators in a hunt but they also have a dozen egg-droppers. These drones can travel up to a half a light year to enter an atmosphere of a planet. There, they search out well-populated areas and then soft land and wait for curious investigators. The drones then blossom to reveal from 6- 12 eggs, ready to strike. The eggs are kept in isolation and cannot open accidentally unless removed from the pod. The aliens can then spread and start their own hives. The droppers follow the progression of the infestation. When a large enough infestation occurs, the dropper transmits a homing beacon to its mothership, alerting of the sprouting hive. The vessel can now arrive for the hunt. The vessels themselves sometimes contain chained alien queens as a source of their eggs.

Standard vessels have an effective unlimited range but must stop and charge its engines for one week after its range is used up. It is unsure how long these vessels travel between service checks or even if they require service checks at all. All evidence points that these vessels maintain themselves somehow. Even the variety of weapons seems maintenance free.

The bottom decks are slums. Upper decks are command and upper castes. The mid-decks form the core of operations. Fights rage, trophies are displayed. Weapons are fashioned. Whole communities rise and fall in the decks of a Hunter Vessel.

JAG'D'JA ATOLL (STANDARD MOTHERSHIP)

The monstrous Hunter motherships are mobile bases rumored to exist but which no human has ever seen. They are totally independent craft where a variety of smaller vessels can dock, move around, interact, and fight. These ships hardly ever move into direct fighting with any other force, but is rather used a mobile town where Hunters can dock with and gloat about their trophies.

Like the other craft, they are invisible to all sensors, making it virtually impossible to find in the expanse of space unless you fly another Hunter vessel. These vessels all have beacons to locate a nearby Atoll. It is rumored that handfuls of these bases are even located in Terran space but outside normal spacelanes. Like Man'Dacas, the Atolls have slums and upper castes separated between decks, there is just a lot more of them. Here, warriors can seek out mates, fight for honor, and acquire new devices and weapons.

Atolls do not often move but often drift when they need to between systems. They hardly ever enter systems on fear of being located. They never initiate hunts. They let the smaller vessels do that. Atolls only contain a handful of their own craft and operating crew but most that wander through the systems can have up to 500 people moving in and out at any time. Some have several of the homeless dishonored with no place to go. They wait until the moment they can gain the strength to return to the hunt or they wait for their death.

Atolls do not often have Egg-Drones but do usually have live queens on board to distribute the eggs to whoever needs them. Although sometimes-smaller vessels fight among themselves, no honor can be achieved from attacking an Atoll.


	10. Races, Quotes, and That Last Bit of Info

CHAPTER 10

RACES, QUOTES, AND THAT LAST BIT OF INFORMATION

Dachande (AvP, Avp: War)

See Yeyinde.

The Yautja ship, Ne'dtesei (Aliens vs Predator)

The leader was Yeyinde, known also by his nickname, Dachande - "Broken Tusk".

Yeyinde's blooded warriors were; Skemte (navigator) and Warkha (flyer). Each carried Yeyinde's mark on their forehead, and each sought their own leadership.

The students aboard the ship were:

Mahnde, the short one

Ghardeh, with the long tress. He was but a follower.

Tichinde, who talks louder than any other.

Chulante, Gkyaun, Da'ec'te, 'Aseigan, M'icli-de, Ski'da'-si, Etah'dte, Oc'djy

The next hunting party that came to Ryushi was led by Uk'leita. He had hunted with Yeyinde prior. He was accompanied by Ci'tde, a Blooded warrior.

The Yautja ship, 'Shell' (AvP: Hunter's Planet TPB)

The total crew numbered 7 - 4 students, 1 leader, 2 adjutants

The leader was Nat'ka'pu. Machiko called him TopKnot.

Lar'nix'va became leader when Nat'ka'pu died. Machiko nicknamed him Shorty. He was a snot-nosed kid a head smaller than other Yautja but with a chip on his shoulder. He had bridled at Machiko's presence, though he took gruff from the others for his lack of stature.

Bakuub's name means Straight Spear. He became Leader at Lar'nix'va's death.

Ki'vik'non was a snarly, oily student that seemed to lack the sense of honor that drove a good warrior.

One Yautja was nicknamed Three-Spot.

"Spring-heeled Jack" (Predator: Nemesis)

A Yautja who hunted in London, England, 1896. He is killed by Captain Edward Soames.

When his ship was discovered underground, Thackery refused to believe it was a flying craft - it had no wings - but rather some sort of submarine. Thus, he believes the "Spring-Heeed Jack" is an agent provocateur for a foreign power sent to destabilize the British Empire.

Yeyinde (aka Dachande) (AvP, Avp: War)

Yeyinde was known also by his nickname, Dachande - "Broken Tusk", refering to his left lower tusk, broken in a bare-handed fist against an Alien queen. He was the son and grandson of ship leaders and warrior trainers. He bowed to no one in his skill with blade or burner. His training focused on blade and simple unarmed combat. Philosophy was not his bent.

He has never hunted humans, though his trophy wall on the homeworld held six Alien skulls, bleached and clean, including the Queen he had killed with his bare hands (and so got his nickname), taken in a hunt in which nine already-blooded warriors had died.

He had sired 73 suckers since becoming Blooded.

His pre-warrior days; he thought he had known everything, was the bravest Yautja ever born and ready to prove it at the slightest provocation. One instance, a younger male had glanced at him with what Yeyinde thought an inappropriate demeanor, had allowed that gaze to linger a quarter second longer than he deemed respectful. He stepped forward to issue a claw-challenge, but a female knocked him sprawling while going about her business. by the time he had recovered, both the female and the insolent youth were gone.

At his Blooding, his Leader was 'A'ni-de. He was hunting with his brother, Nei'hman'de. Yeyinde had killed two Aliens, but his brother was killed.


End file.
